There are many tools available to help your kids concentrate. My kids have used stress balls, slime, and fidget spinners over the years. Today I’m sharing some other tips to help you learn how to help your kid concentrate.
These tips will be quite useful during the days of remote learning and homeschooling kids.
As a parent, you might find it tricky to navigate your children’s school work. Their work is usually placed in the hands of their school teacher, who can determine how well they are responding to school work, as well as helping them if they are struggling with anything.
Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many kids to be homeschooled, the job of keeping track of their schoolwork, grades, and concentration is down to you.
Is your child struggling to concentrate? If so, this issue could be down to many different reasons. Here are some tips to help your children concentrate better for longer periods.
1. Remove distractions from the room
If your child is becoming distracted while they are supposed to be doing school work, it might be that there are too many things in their immediate vicinity that tempt them away. Children can’t be expected to have the self-control that adults have spent years cultivating, so cut them some slack in this area.
Instead of asking them to simply stop playing while they work, remove toys, devices, and any other distracting items from your child’s desk space. You could even make this a rewards-based system that gives your child motivation to finish their work so that they can have fun!
2. Try short bursts of work
Just because you can concentrate for an hour, doesn’t mean your child can do the same. Your child might be struggling to concentrate simply because they are being expected to work solidly for longer periods than they are able.
Try shorter bursts of work – for example, ten minutes concentrating, five minutes play – to help them complete their work.
3. Reduce their sugar intake
Sugar is proven to make children experience hyperactive periods followed by a “crash” – i.e a sudden feeling of tiredness, lethargy and an inability to concentrate. Of course, all children eat some sugar and there’s no problem with that.
But if you have gotten into the habit of giving your child a sugary breakfast, this might be affecting their ability to concentrate effectively. Try feeding them a slow-release breakfast that will help them sustain their concentration.
4. Vary the work
Making sure your child is challenged enough to be interested in their work is important. If you are struggling to find resources that will keep them stimulated, visit https://studentreasures.com/start-your-classbook/ for free activities and stimuli to keep your child fully engaged while working at home.
5. Consider seeing a specialist
If you feel that your child’s concentration issues are deeper than just their working environment, you could consider seeing a child psychologist or behavioral specialist.
It could be that your child’s tendency to become distracted easily is a result of something deeper which, if that is the case, is better to be diagnosed and faced head-on.
This isn’t anything to be concerned about, but rather curious – it is better to get to the bottom of why your child might not sit still and work as well as their peers.
All in all, kids are funny, lively little people who are bound to be distracted from time to time! Use this helpful guide to ensure they manage to sit down and get some work done, too.