As a mom, I usually find out from worried moms and dads that their kid’s instructor has discussed something with them, and it appears something like the following:
- Teachers find my kid challenging to handle
- My child is slow to complete the assignment assigned by the teacher
- My kid does not follow instructions
- My child has difficulty concentrating in school
These statements can put you in a tough situation as parents due to the fact that you simply cannot wholly manage what’s taking place in school. It is also challenging for the teacher as they are the ones handling the different needs of kids in a big class.
It’s a difficult situation regardless of how you perceive it.
This is where you and your child’s educator hold commonalities: Both of you strive for your children to be successful not only in school but also in the future. You definitely would consider cooperating in this venture. Thus arriving at the ultimate question, Ideas on How to Boost a Kid’s Concentration in School?
A mother that I am, I can completely vouch for how difficult it is to get my kid to concentrate. I can even clearly remember an instance when I couldn’t also manage to make my kid sit still for dinner for 5 minutes! Lining up at the post office with my kid is impossible while buying items at the supermarket entails a great deal of negotiations and bribery.
We have long since changed ever since.
Here are 5 Innovative concepts on how to boost a child’s concentration:
The majority of write-ups you’ve seen on assisting children with concentration issues in class will suggest solutions like keeping the children far from things that distract them, come up with enjoyable learning method, establish a working regimen, and others.
All the ideas mentioned above are excellent techniques in a classroom setting. However, it can still be further improved if these methods are also applied in your home.
Since the classroom setting is beyond your control, you can focus on working with your kid in your home, making use of these five fresh approaches:
1. Exercise Lots and Lots of Waiting Technique to Boost a Child’s Focus
Always try to make your child wait as often as possible in a day. Great places to practice self-control are at the supermarket, your doctor’s clinic, and the dining table. It can also be applied while your child has playtime at home.
Rather than grabbing your mobile phone or other digital gadgets to sidetrack your kid, try coming up with entertaining games to play with your kid while you wait. You can consider doing some mind or hand games with your kid to enhance your child’s concentration and interest. These games are straightforward to execute as they will only require your body and your imagination.
Below are some activities you can try:
- At the supermarket, you can try playing “The Thinking Game” where your kid can characterize an item, and you attempt to guess what that is.
- While in line at your doctor’s clinic, you can participate in the game, “I Spy,” where you characterize stuff you see, and your kid is the one to guess what the item is.
- Another game to try is “Red Hands” or “Slapsies.” Have your child extend both arms at chest level with hands facing up. Hover your hands over your child’s hands but facing down. The object of the game is for your kid to slap your hands before you can pull yours away. Swap roles if your child misses your hands and plays again.
In your own home, you can also make your child do the waiting exercise through toys being played by your child’s siblings. Give rewards in forms of toys your kid wants, pastries, or candies if your kid does a good job.
If your child weeps, shows unhappiness, or throws a fit, ensure that you identify your child’s emotions and mindset and empathize and support your kid’s feelings. To raise self-discipline, a tremendous amount of effort is needed – particularly for youngsters! It will make a big difference in your kids’ psychological wellness if they realize that you are their ally and that you get their viewpoint.
Lastly, you have to make your kid remain seated at the table until everybody is done eating. Making them sit for half an hour can make your child remain concentrated when they move into the school setting.
2. Parlor Games are Great for Keeping Focus
Parlor games are among the most effective means to aid your kid to develop a critical feature, which is the rational or conscious part of self-control. When children require assistance concentrating, what you really mean is building self-control abilities.
Increasing your kids’ focus skills at your own home means increasing the chances of them to practice focusing in their classroom.
3. Motivate Play-Acting in your Household
As per Dr. Karyn Purvis, a top-rated child development specialist, “It takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain – unless it is done with play – in which case, it takes between 10-20 repetitions.”
Rather than be restless and uninterested in school, it’s best to discuss with your children that they can voice out their feelings. But still, the most effective method to assist your kids’ resolve this issue is to have them keep in mind at all times, is by play-acting with you in your own home.
You can do play-acting with your kid in different ways. My favorite is doing role-reversal exercises.
One of the scenarios you can do to help your kid concentrate is to have your kid act as the teacher while you will be the one to play the distracted kid who always dilly-dallies and cannot focus in the class.
The more you embellished your acting like a child without concentration, the more your kid will enjoy the play-acting game. This type of play can build a more profound link and a risk-free environment for you and your kid to overcome this difficulty.
When your kid requests to be the pupil again, you’ll understand that your child is beginning to open up to your teachings will manifest in the play-acting.
Try doing different scenarios with your kid to help them focus in the classroom. The more hilarious, the better, as it will be more unforgettable for the kid when it comes to real-life situations.
4. Vestibular and Proprioceptive Skills are a Must!
Development of vestibular sense and proprioception is a must, to be able to make youngsters pay attention, concentrate, and discover the importance of sitting still for a moment. One of the most crucial moments to establish a kid’s vestibular sense and proprioception is before they reach 6 of age.
In a nutshell, the vestibular sense is the one that gives info regarding the location of the body in connection to its environment. This is the feeling that makes you recognize balance as well as its relationships with the rest of your senses.
Children missing a solid vestibular sense tends to be uneasy, throw tantrums, act aggressively, often stumble, not understand personal space by standing close to others when speaking, and have a problem with concentrating and paying attention simply because they can’t stop themselves from doing these things.
On the other hand, proprioception is what helps you figure out where exactly are your body parts even without the need to see them with your eyes. This is the same feeling that allows you to detect gravity. It is one that helps you function your motor skills like switching from the gas, pedal, and break-even without thinking or checking out your feet. The same goes for when you can automatically bring a snack to your mouth without averting your eyes off the television display.
A child lacking in proprioception has a hard time playing tag with other children. They are most likely to fall off their chair while eating at the dinner table or stumble while climbing up the stairways.
5. Significantly Reduce Gadget Screen Time
Research shows that children who spend lots of time playing video games or mobile phones/tablets demonstrate decreased attentiveness and lack of concentration. It is also easily neglected since screen-time can build up quickly without you recognizing it.
Previous researches suggest children only have 2 hours of screen time per day. However, new studies indicate that a kid should only have zero to 30 minutes of screen time once daily.
Specialists in the field also highly suggest doing a “screen fast” where all electronic devices are eliminated for several weeks to enable your kid’s neurological function to go back to normal.
If done correctly, these treatments can make your kid sleep peacefully, have an improved and better mood, enhanced concentration, and a tip-top physical condition. A child’s capability to handle stress also gets better, so tantrums are greatly lessened in both gravity and occurrence. The kid starts to find happiness in the activities they used to and starts to appreciate nature. Their creativity and imagination are also restored.
