How to self-teach your child to focus and pay attention?

[24hr-mum]

my boy is already 5, still has short attentn span since birth (tho slightlly better now) but it seems its a trait that wont be outgrown…just got to channel their attention to something of their interest…

[Michecplow]

tamarind:

Michecplow:

Is there anyway to deal with laziness and lack of motivation & confident ?


since P1 , my son does not have stress with school. Teacher feedback that he not paying attention but still manage to cath up with the lesson & he will b in P4 GEP next year... ( worry for him )

he has short focus span, but when we sit with him for assignment and reading , it does help to improve his focus ..

If he is still able to catch up, then you don't have to worry.

It is actually possible to do well even with a short attention span. My attention span is 15 minutes or less, even as an adult In class, if I often miss what the teacher was saying, but I could read from the textbook and learned on my own. I am not gifted, but I scored mostly As all the way to A levels.

Gifted kids should have the ability to learn on their own. There is no need to worry about whether they pay attention to the teacher or not.

As for laziness and lack of motivation, this is because kids have everything that they want, and they are not hungry. Kids believe that parents are always there to support them for their entire life.

Parents should try to create an environment, in which they can experience what will happen when they grow up, and if they cannot get a job. No toys, no computers, no TV, no holidays and just rice and vegetables for every meal.

We all know that kids from China are mostly very motivated and driven. When I was teaching in a university in China, I visited the hostels, and their living condition is really horrible, I almost vomited when I walked pass their hostels. So when they arrive in Singapore, they are extremely motivated to work hard because they want to get out of their situations back home.

For kids who are not motivated no matter how hard you try to talk to them, then you will have to first take away all the luxuries from their lives.

I am now teaching large numbers of young adults age 17-19 years old. I know many students who are very intelligent, but because they are lazy and not motivated, they spent all day playing computer games and they could never hope to get into university. At this age, it is too late for parents to do anything.

So if you really want to do something, better do it when the child is young.

Just to add that for my kids, they get toys only once a year during their birthdays. If they want anything, I will buy it for them only when they have put in hard work. For example, I give them a small reward when they have completed reading a long novel of my choice.

Another important point to note, is to remove all the distractions. Nowadays kids have computers, ipads, PSPs, etc, all these are distractions. Even if you limit the time of usage, after the kids stop playing, their minds will still be thinking of the games, and they will not be motivated to study. I have seen so many students wasted their youths and future because they are addicted to computer games, it is really sad.

thanks so much for your sharing

[Charmaine_chong]

24hr-mum:

my boy is already 5, still has short attentn span since birth (tho slightlly better now) but it seems its a trait that wont be outgrown......just got to channel their attention to something of their interest......

Hi,

I am not sure whether you could read chinese.

This is how the mommy train his son to focus.

和儿子一起成长
她是中国十大杰出母亲，她是资深教育专家。
http://read.dangdang.com/book_12021

Please click here to read-成功来自专注力（1）
http://read.dangdang.com/content_2188359?ref=read-2-D&book_id=12021

[24hr-mum]

thanks a lot!

i m planning to send my boy to brainfit studio’s attention programme nx year

[woody]

My gal just turn 3 and according to her pre school teacher, I was recently told her attention span is rather short which as a mother, I know that too.


I have been trying to help her and am still trying to. What I have done, I am not sure if it’s good enough. I knew she likes pirate so I bought her a set of 48pieces of pirate jigsaw puzzle which is she able to complete it on her own. I sat near her but didn’t help except verbally guide her how to differential each piece and things to look out. More like technic.

Since she is so into pirate, I bought a pirate book with jigsaw puzzle on alternate pages and sticker book etc.

The teacher commented that when she is told to do colouring, she would do that but after a while she will wonder off. That’s something I do with her at home so I am not sure if that’s boredom.

I was told she likes music so I try to create a nice musical environment for her like turning on children but she would say NO turn off, too noisy. And yet once she ponder on my trance CD, she dance to it…

I am in fact very concern about her focusing and concentration. Is there anymore things that I can help her out? Any suggestions?

[24hr-mum]

if she loves to dance, seems like ur child is active, like my boy (tho he doesnt dance. just run ard)


if she can focus on things she likes eg puzzle, then she prob isnt adhd.
my boy can focus on drawg, puzzle, car, train, lego, tv, but not sch wk.
sigh…so if not doing these things, he will not sit still, even now he is 5

[Paulyn]

I tried the phonics cards on my 5 yr old who can talk very well but can’t really read as he refused to try. This is due to bad experience as i tend to throw temper when he refuses to write when he was young. He was excited for a while but after seeing me bring out the cards, he immediately say no and that he just wAns to play. He enjoys me reading stories to him though. What should i do

[Chenonceau]

Paulyn:

I tried the phonics cards on my 5 yr old who can talk very well but can't really read as he refused to try. This is due to bad experience as i tend to throw temper when he refuses to write when he was young. He was excited for a while but after seeing me bring out the cards, he immediately say no and that he just wAns to play. He enjoys me reading stories to him though. What should i do

I was like the laziest mommy ever when it came to Phonics training. I planted mine in front of Dr Seuss computer game (came in CD-ROM in those days) and in front of Winnie the Pooh Alphabet and Winnie the Pooh Math.

I taught them to play the games and before you know it, they'll have learnt their ABCs and to count.

[24hr-mum]

i hv nvr seriously taught my kids phonics cos i dont know and they learnt in sch. n they dont phonic class cos i find it too slow, tho it shd be good but i hv my liimited budget. instead i made my own flash card of sight words, bought some from popular (pelangi series that comes with readers), some from september21 and bought lots of readers eg Oxford Essential Readers. just keep repeating the words flashcard n drill him.


start with common sight words and high frequency words eg and, of, into, because, what etc - all my kids can read by 3, even by boy who’s active, by 3.5 latest. he didnt like to sit down but i forced him (its like the child dont like antibiotics but u got to force right?)

phonics is not a must if u are just talkg abt ability to read.
its more of aiding spelling but can still read wel by sight reading.
its a bonus if can learn phonics but its not that no phonics, cant read.
its same for chinese language - the look of the ch character has no relation to the pronounciation. but we learnt by sight reading n memorising right?

[tamarind]

Phonics is definitely essential when teaching a child to read. Otherwise, the child will have to memorize thousands of words in order to learn how to read, and this is very inefficient. It is like parents making the big mistake of forcing their kids to write many Chinese characters many times in order to remember the strokes, this is not the correct method. Please note that learning Chinese is completely different from learning English.


As parents, we should find the most efficient methods of teaching kids. Both my kids are able to read long English novels like Charlotte's Web by 5 years old, thanks to their good foundation in phonics. Being able to read does not mean only knowing how to read simple books of one sentence on each page. It means the ability to read books with about 200 words a page :
http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2010/03/importance-of-reading-books.html

They are also able to write long English compositions effortlessly before entering P1, because they can spell most words using phonics techniques. Since they read extensively, they are able to learn a lot of knowledge independently.

Being able to read effortlessly is essential for doing well in schools. I believe that many kids dislike studying because they find it difficult to read.