The ability to pay sufficient attention to a certain subject is one of the prerequisites for successful education, receiving information and effective implementation of activities.
A focused person is much more successful in what he does, he is more convincing and productive than people running away and working under pressure. It is similar in children.
Unlike adults, however, everything is new to them, so they are much easier to pull away.
However, concentration is essential for their development and learning ability, so today we will show you how to improve their concentration.
We can tell you that you are not the only one who is interested in children’s concentration and who is involved in it.
We know a lot about children’s concentration from experts and child psychologists.
There is even so much information that you can easily get lost in it. And that’s why we offer you a comprehensive overview of what you should know about training, not only for children.
How to recognize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children
From a short story, it might seem that a running child suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or so-called ADHD. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Not much information was said in the story, such as the age of the child, which is important enough information to make a diagnosis.
It should be noted that children’s attention develops with age and is not the same over the years.
Pedagogical-psychological counseling center must find out whether the child really suffers from this disorder. This cannot be predicted based on other mothers’ assumptions or comments about your child’s inattention.
However, if you think that your child is too inattentive, you can use the services of a counseling center. No recommendation is needed for the examination.
Signs of attention deficit disorder may vary.
The most common are: impulsivity, hyperactivity, lack of concentration and inertia. At first glance, a child may seem bored and look for as much distraction as possible.
During a given task, every sound or even insignificant stimulus takes him out of concentration, which is why a child is often said to be naughty, careless or restless.
However, attention disorders are not related to education at all, which many parents think and blame.
The cause is not clear, but there are factors that can stimulate the development of these disorders – such as genetics, complications in childbirth or conception in old age.
Children with attention deficit disorder are not stupid. Their IQ can even be above average.
The first signs are usually noticed by kindergarten teachers. But whether the diagnosis is confirmed or not, a distracted and less focused child deserves care that will calm him down and prepare him optimal conditions for performing tasks.
Beware of exaggerated demands. Children’s attention changes with age
Children’s attention develops and improves during childhood and adolescence.
For example, toddlers can only concentrate on simple instructions and usually do not manage to communicate at the same time during the game.
On the other hand, for children aged 4 to 5, the time of the ability to concentrate is extended to 20 minutes for a single task, but it depends on the difficulty of the activity and the fatigue of the child. Preschoolers have a little better and more advanced attention.
However, it is still necessary to intersperse activities with play and rest. Schoolchildren should then be able to concentrate for a longer period of time and perform multiple activities at once.
Therefore, if your child is unable to fully concentrate on several tasks at the same time, you do not have to immediately mean that they are suffering from a disorder.
This factual information will also help you not to have excessive demands on your children or, conversely, unnecessarily low expectations.
What parents, such children ?!
It is no news that children imitate their parents and store their patterns of behavior in the subconscious.
Therefore, sometimes it is very difficult to admit that at a low level of concentration of your child, we have a certain share.
If you run from one thing to another yourself, you won’t last long and you always have a lot of work, responsibilities and tasks that you just have to do immediately at all costs, your child cannot be expected to have full control over concentration.
The children are watching you. If you run away from one thing to another, this pattern of behavior can be expected to be passed on to the child.
The short ability of children to concentrate on a certain activity can also sometimes be due to the constant introduction of new and new stimuli to seize the child.
Likewise, it is not entirely ideal for children to play television every time as a backdrop, as it can lead to fragmentation of attention and habit formation.
The child will then always require additional stimuli during the game – that is, turning on the television. And if it doesn’t turn on, he’ll find playing with toys less fun.
So what to do? How to improve concentration
You can train the concentration of both you and your children. I
t’s like training your muscles – if you take care of them every day for a while, they get stronger. When you relax, they weaken.
As with muscles, however, they become exhausted over time.
In an adult, productivity and concentration levels decrease after 40 minutes of intense concentration per task.
Therefore, breaks, or at least interlacing demanding work, are less difficult or manual.
At the same time, the human brain is set up to constantly capture new and interesting stimuli, which is especially evident at a time when one is engaged in an activity that one does not enjoy too much.
Therefore, in order to achieve the longest and best possible concentration for a given task, you should eliminate disturbing elements in your environment.
Noise is one of the main problem stimuli. Therefore, when doing tasks, prepare a quiet, well-lit environment with a reasonable temperature for yourself and your children.
Turn off all mobile and computer alerts so that nothing distracts you. Clutter is also a problem, whether on your desk, in a room, or on your desktop.
A summary of what you should do to strengthen your concentration
- Prepare a quiet and least disturbing environment.
- Always focus on only one task and move on to the next.
- Avoid open spaces that offer too many stimuli.
- Do not cross multiple activities at once. Do not turn on the TV or use your mobile phone while eating, playing, or doing homework.
- Clean up on your desktop, desk or in the room where you work.
- Choose children’s games that strengthen memory, thinking or skill.
- Based on your age, choose a task for your child and ask him or her to complete it.
- Give your children enough sleep and rest.
- Start with more challenging tasks and move on to less challenging ones.
- Divide larger tasks into smaller sections and take a short break after each one.
- Take turns. For children, spend challenging tasks with play, relaxation or a completely different activity.
