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

[celebratelife]

cherrygal:

Read about many expensive mind training schools such as Shichida, Little Neuro Tree and Brainfit that supposedly teach kids to think and focus etc.


Has anyone successfully trained your young kids (esp boys) to focus on schoolwork, and sit down quietly to read/study on their own accord, without sending them to those schools?

Please share?

Dear cherrygal,

It's natural that children have short attention span. Usually they grow out of it as they age - in the 1980s at least. Now, with the advent and proliferation of the internet and the boosted effectiveness of multi-tasking (which has been debunked by some critics recently), it's almost impossible for teens to stay focused - even when they are well into their teens! This is a sad fact but true nevertheless.

One way to enable them to stay focused is to let them engage in an activity which they are interested in and then let them be - preferable up till the completion of the activity. For young kids, simple jig-saw puzzles might help (but it should not be the very challenging types that take days to complete. An hour or two to complete the activity should suffice). Once they have completed such an activity, compliment them on their consistent and focused effort and encourage them to bring this consistency to their other activities. Over time, they will be more focused and their concentration powers will increase.

It's quite sad that most workplaces today place much emphasis on the effectiveness and efficiency of multi-tasking instead of focused tasks, as there are some which states that the act of multi-tasking is merely the handling of multiple tasks sequentially.

Warmest Regards,
Patrick

[ccgoh]

Hi cherrygal,


I did not send my kids to those centres mentioned. I wanted to spend time with them when they were still young. I guess what I did was I modelled the behaviour I wanted in them. So when I wanted them to love reading, I would get absorb in a book and tell them interesting parts and when they saw I loved reading, they also started to pick it up. I would leave some books around the house in our library corner and when it came to reading time, I would pick up a book and make everything conducive, turn up the air-con, have a glass of milk and cookies and start reading. When they saw how ‘shiok’ it seemed, they also started to search for books and then they started reading.

For focus in work, during the holidays, I would do what they want, bring them to places that I know they will really like. In that sense I would give to them in the love language that they understood. Then, when it came to work time, they would not resist so much as they have had a lot of time to do what they wanted. When they were studying, I would switch off the television and read a book so the house would be quiet and they would not be distracted. I would also explain why focus in important. Example- ask them how does a matchstick light up when it is placed under a magnifying glass…then teach them about that the magnifying glass causes the sun’s rays to focus on one spot and so the matchstick burns and then try to inspire them about the power of focus.

It does not always work but more often than not, when I explain and reason with them why certain things are important, they would often want to do that thing. They understand the heart behind the matter and hence they do not feel forced to do it.

I would not say my kids are perfect but at least now they are readers and can focus and do work on their own most of the time.

[cherrygal]

Thanks ccgoh and celebratelife for sharing your tips!

[celebratelife]

You are most welcome, cherrygal.