Building a Child’s Concentration

As an adult performing complex tasks, like studying in college or managing home finances, it is all too easy to take for granted the cognitive processes that go into performing them. The brainpower required to do complicated things develops rapidly through experience and practice, starting at a very young age. Improving children’s cognitive abilities can begin at the earliest stages of their sensory development.

Developing the ability to concentrate on particular tasks is absolutely critical for success in today’s over-stimulated, distracting environments, and those who do so at an early age have a leg up on their peers. By the time a child begins schooling, he or she needs to have developed cognitive ability that will allow him or her to perform tasks that may take a prolonged period of time. Consequently, developing focus and concentration at the pre-school level is very important. Here are some practical tips for parents to help their child or children develop concentration.

Creating a Plan

One of the best ways that a parent can go about measuring a child’s concentration levels is by creating a plan and a schedule. Over time, they should monitor their children and record whether and how much progress is being made. Once a plan has been created, parents should present logic or “thinking” tasks such as age-appropriate puzzles to their children, and encourage them to work on them for as long as possible.

Step By Step Approach

Initially, it is “normal” for a child may to have the ability to focus on a particular challenge for just a few minutes before giving up. However, parents should encourage their children to build their concentration, by ensuring that they stick to a task a little bit longer than they did in the past. This must be done in small steps to ensure that the child does not become exhausted or excessively frustrated. As time goes by, a child will naturally build concentration spans that hold them in good stead as they study further. It is also a good idea to get your toddler enrolled for karate classes. This will help in improving your child’s concentration power a great deal.

Rewards

It is also extremely important for children to feel rewarded for the work they have put into developing their mental faculties. Sincere and specific praise is a good example. At the next stage, parents might challenge their children to complete a puzzle, game, or task in a certain number of days while offering a greater incentive, such as the promise of a desirable toy or an extra hour of television. Rewarding the child is entirely up to the parents as long as the reward is real and ultimately fulfilled when the challenge is complete.