Children’s growth depends on the ways they perceive what is been performed in front of them. The most of what they learn and how they learn is done at school that makes this institution one of the most important phases in a child’s life. The growth and ability to understand and to pay attention depends on their parents as well as their educators who teach them the power of concentration and the importance of paying attention. A teacher is the second mother of a child and therefore, she holds the responsibility to nurture the little bundle of joy in every aspect of a life. Secondly, a mother is another possible creature who has the power to feel and understand what is right and wrong for her child. Usually, children seek to copy what they perceive from their elders. This plays an initial role in their attention process. They would pay more attention to things that are enjoyable, positive, and lovable and things that are suitable according to their age. Therefore, when the teachers at the school are trying to provide knowledge to children, they should make sure that they do it in an enjoyable manner so that children would take interest and ultimately their attention span will grow. It becomes a challenge for children when they initially become a part of the environment such as school and peer groups. The only thing affects the power of a child to concentrate is the distraction he faces. Some children have a short attention span while others are able to focus easily without getting themselves indulge in any sort of distraction. The increase in the attention span cannot adhere to a child anytime. This phenomenon should be cleared and improved in the early toddler years. This means that a child does not learn only when he starts his schooling but, as soon as he starts to interact within a family, his mind starts to develop. Also, a child, if been taught for like an hour, cannot pay attention for an hour completely. There is a limit for a child to focus on certain things.
Here are three most appropriate points which I think every parent should keep in mind before trying to improve the attention span of a child:
- One should give attention in order to get attention
- Educators should know how to decrease the distractions
- Should be able to identify if a child is going through any type of disorder which is lacking him to concentrate.
Sometimes, the mind of a child is sharp enough to attain and understand what is been taught, but he might experience difficulty in paying a great amount of attention to the similar thing especially when they study at home. The most accurate example of the statement which I as a parent have seen in my child is when he self-study and when he studies under my eye. Having a company of a mother plays a crucial role because a mother is able to get back a child from any sort of distraction. As soon as a mind of a child starts to play its role, a child gets up and distract himself with situations like thirst, hunger, or an urge to pee. These are some very common excuses children make while they study. Now, mother knows when a child actually needs something or whether it’s just an excuse.
The problem of paying attention is not only among young kids, but it is common among elder children and adults as well. When focusing becomes a problem and it remains there for a longer period, where it turns out to be an appropriate disorder or a mental illness altogether. Attention is present in general human psyche and when there is a problem with the psyche of an individual, it does not remain as just a lack of attention.
Being a teacher, I have always been curious to make children be more attainable to things and more focusable. Children do not only learn or need to have a great deal of focus when they study, rather the process of learning always keep on going throughout the life and somewhere or the other, a child learns new things. To be able to understand the important concepts within the situation, one should be able to free his mind from elsewhere and try to only keep the accurate things in mind at that particular period of time. This is how attention is perceived.
Indulging in physical activities.
Children need enjoyment in order to complete any sort of challenge given to them. Making them work for straight longer hours would eventually make them tired and their concentration level will initially decrease. Hence, adding up activities like aerobics, jumping jacks, jogging etc. for 15-20 would refresh them and then they would be able to work with a high level of attention.
Removing easily reachable distractions
Distractions do not only include excuses made by kids, but catchy things in the environment or in a classroom such as a painting on a wall or an aquarium would affect the concentration and will break the focus. This would give children another source to indulge in and they further away themselves from the ongoing lecture.
Games are children’s favorite part of any environment. Hence, mind games or intellectual games are one of the best ways to increase the interest of children and will raise their focus. Mind games will include their mental intelligence and this cannot be done without focusing on what one is working on. Playing with letters, words, colors etc. would eventually make them learn and moreover to focus on what they are playing.
A child relies on his parent since the birth. Therefore mutuality between a parent and a child plays an important role when it comes to a child’s mental development. If you, as a mother, is trying to make him increase his attention span or trying to teach him the flow of focus on one thing, you should make him realize that you are equally concentrated on that particular thing. He will eventually learn to pay attention when he will see his mother having the equal amount of attention on a certain thing.
Track of time
One should be aware that a child has a limit of putting on concentration on one particular thing. He can pretend that he listening to you more time but he might have crossed his limit and stopped to understand what you are teaching him. Keeping a track of time is very important as exceeding time would only result in loss of interest, waste to time and waste of efforts. There should a schedule set according to the capacity of a child. Also forcefully making a child to understand or to listen will further make things worse.
These are few ways I have used to make children more concentrated and to make them able to be focused not only in studies but to learn from any sort of situation he gets himself into. Being a mother, I know how difficult is to nurture a child, especially growing him mentally. Physical growth is important to be taken care off, but mental growth is something, which has to be critically seen and examined. The grown child with low mental growth is not only a sad thing for parents, but a child has to go through himself throughout his life. When a child is unable to understand easily, or when he cannot pay attention no matter what, he soon turns out to be a dull person in the eyes of others.
|I have always been a bright student in my school and college years and just like every other mother, I too wanted my child to be as brilliant and intelligent. Since his toddler years, I tried to develop his mind by indulging him in several activities. But what I discovered was that he is not able to even sit in one place for a long time. If he is been asked to sit in one place for half an hour, he would get up from his chair for five times in a row. The flow of concentration is what lacks in him.
|The same problem is been faced by a friend of mine who is unable to read a book to her child who cannot stay still at one place for long. What is been discovered later was that children like mine, find it harder to focus on one thing for long or even for the average time span? They generally lose track of one thing and starts to find distractions to get themselves out.
The above example illustrates how some children are not able to reach the average time period while concentrating which makes it impossible for them to remain in one place for long. They urge to move as soon as their patience ends and their flow of attention breaks. Such issues can be resolved if a mother herself would pay more attention to her child. If she knows that the child has a problem of keep on moving or changing positions when he was asked to complete his homework or assignment, then a mother should try to stay close to him. Unfortunately, women, these days have a lot of responsibilities on their head which lacks them to focus on their children’s growth. But when a mother like me knows that it is the time to support my child and focus on his development, then I should stay close to my child. If cannot sit in a room for hours to teach, then a mother should take her child with her while doing her work, like in a kitchen. She can keep an eye on her child and make sure that he would complete the given task.
Also, if I would want my child to take an interest in things I want him to do like studies, then, first of all, I should take interest in things he likes. Scolding a child every time would not help him to grow, but eventually, he, will start to feel alone and away, hence, a mother should always be her child’s first friend and should love the things her child likes. Playing with children would also help them to be more into you which would later help them to focus on things for you.‘’What we perceive, stays in our minds till the end’’, this implies the importance of good attention span among children. In a class full of fifty children, a teacher can expect that her lecture would be heard by almost every student present, but she could not expect every student to understand what she talked about. This is because some of them have less or no interest in what has been taught, and some of them have a great amount of interest but because of some things, they were not able to pay attention and so they did not understand what is ben taught. There is a difference between listening and understanding, and listening without understanding is a waste of time and efforts. Understanding can be done only when a child has focused on what is been taught.
Every single child in this world deserves everything. Being the future, they deserve to be on the top, and to get them on top, institutions such as schools need to provide great opportunities to learn. To be on the top they need to get through things in life which lacks them to move ahead. In this scenario, a child should always have a support of his parents and teachers. Parents are the best source, a child can end up reaching to whenever difficulties strikes and a teacher is someone who is always available to sole difficulties as many time as a child need. The above-listed points will help to treat children and help them to improve their attention span, after which they would be able to focus more, understand more and get everything in life they deserve.