Parenting Tips and Thoughts : Improving Concentration Skills
When it comes to my children’s concentration levels, I must say they’re rather different.
Anya is pretty good when it comes to doing things by herself for a long time. Since young, she can sit alone and read books, make crafty stuff. draw, etc.
Vai doesn’t quite share his sister’s love for reading, drawing or making crafty stuff ALONE though. He can play alone for a very long time when it comes to his cars and trucks (and oh, I must say he loves cutting up paper! Give him a stack of old newspaper and scrap paper, and he’d be at it for a long time!)
For other activities (like drawing, arts and crafts, and reading) he can do one activity at a time for a relatively longer time IF he does it with someone else.
Anyway.
Today I’d like to share with you some of the things that we can do to help and improve our kids’ concentration level. Hope it can be an insightful read to you all.
Happy reading!
…
Source : Family Education
– Your child’s interest
Children usually stay focused longer on things that truly interest them, so you will want to pick activities that appeal to your child to improve his concentration.
– Board and Card Games
If you haven’t been playing board and card games with your child, start now. Begin with games that are easy to play before moving on to those with more complicated rules. Not only do games require concentration, but they’re also fun.
– Read and Read
Read to your child. Start asking him questions before you read to focus his attention on a story. Then have him let you know when you read the answer to the question. What you are doing is helping your child become an active listener.
– Reduce computer and TV time
Does your child play any computer games? Have him avoid those that just require mindless responses. Also, cut his TV viewing time. While it may appear that he is concentrating on a program, television does not require children to focus for more than a few seconds on an image.
– Other activity ideas
Other activities that build concentration include: doing puzzles, drawing pictures, making models, and helping with family chores.
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My 3 years old gal has short attention span too. Teachers in school told me that it is a challenge to keep her engaged in activities and lesson for longer than 10 to 15 minutes.
Am trying hard to improve.. Good luck to all mummies. 🙂
Sandra :
Gee … I’m replying your last month’s comment! (so sorry … been so caught up with endless things everyday)
Somehow I think in general boys have this hormone where they naturally tend to be more physically active and hence, shorter attention span. Again, that’s ‘in general’, coz I do know of some boys (very few though) whose attention span is pretty long 🙂
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Hui2 :
Hi there .. and thanks for sharing.
Vai also likes to read the books that he’s interested in, talking about things that he likes … so usually from what he likes to talk about, I expand and talk about other things too hehe … Easier to start from what really interests the kid, I feel 🙂
my soon-to-be 3 yr old son is worse: EVERYTHING he does, he wants to do it with someone else! He can spend up to an hour on his favourite play-doh, but ONLY IF there’s someone playing with him.
I’ve had zero success trying to teach him card games, and when I read to him, he would keep chatting back on all the points of the story that interest him. I guess I really have to try limit his tv time……
Am wondering if this concentration difference between boys & gals have anything to do with the fact that gals have longer attention spans? Cos my boy is the same – even in things he is interested in, he will change the gameplay or location or characters quite quickly (within like 15mins) – draw/crafts is not his thing. Thot he quite happy to be playing on the computer for the time it takes me to cook dinner (that’s his allocated computer time).