Knowing how to train your child's focus will help them in their daily life.
Focus is an ability that allows children to complete tasks without being distracted.
It relates to how a child keeps their attention on something until the task is completed.
By improving focus and concentration, children can better avoid distractions that hinder their goal achievement.
When you're faced with a situation where your child is struggling to concentrate, you'll want to understand why and how to fix it.
Well, this article will discuss the causes and ways to train children's focus that are important to know. Let's take a look!
How to Train Children's Focus
It is important for children to train their ability to focus, as this will impact their daily lives.
Here are some ways to improve and train your child's focus to help them in their daily life.
1. Provide Balanced Nutritious Food
The first way to train children's focus is to ensure that the nutritional needs of their diet are met.
Poor food choices can hinder stages of child development and interfere with their ability to concentrate.
Therefore, it is recommended to provide foods that are rich in nutrients and high in omega-3, such as eggs, salmon, fish oil, and red meat.
In addition, fruits such as bananas, strawberries, oranges, melons, avocados, as well as vegetables such as spinach, carrots, and potatoes, will be helpful to improve their focus.
You should avoid giving junk food, raw food, excessive caffeine, and reducing sugar intake to make it easier for your child to concentrate.
Also, make sure your children get enough fluids to avoid dehydration, which will cause concentration problems.
2. Improve Sleep Quality
The way to make children focus on learning is to improve the quality of their sleep.
Sleep can help improve children's ability to focus and understand.
This is because an adequate and quality rest can strengthen nerve functions that help form memories.
As mentioned, make sure your child gets enough sleep between 8–10 hours every day.
You can create routines such as drinking warm milk, brushing teeth, or reading a book, to help them sleep better.
Also, keep your children away from gadgets, at least 1 hour before bedtime, so that they are not distracted.
3. Provide Games to Train Children's Focus
The next way to train children's focus is to invite them to play various types of games to train concentration.
Training children's concentration can be done by providing games that stimulate their way of thinking. Some interesting and effective games to train children's focus at the stages of child development include playing with blocks.
This provides an opportunity for children to have fun while practicing their focus skills.
4. Allow Children to Complete Tasks in a Fun Way
Did you know that too many tasks can make a young child's brain tired, and they will also feel overwhelmed.
Therefore, it is advisable to improve your child's concentration by allowing them to have fun while completing tasks.
This way of training children's focus can help them to be more ready to continue and complete tasks without feeling burdened.
Strenuous and uninteresting activities have the potential to make children feel tired and become less focused.
5. Give Daily Tasks
The next way to train children's focus is to give them some daily tasks.
Sometimes, the best way to improve children's concentration is to let them do everyday activities.
For example, you can ask them to sort storybooks alphabetically or ask them to help with food preparation.
6. Read Stories to Children
Furthermore, one way to train children's focus is by reading stories. This seemingly simple activity can help introduce them to the world of reading early on.
However, make sure you choose a storybook that is appropriate for your child's age. When reading the story, pay attention to the volume of the voice and do it slowly so that they can focus more when listening to it.
Children's interest in the story will help improve their listening skills and encourage them to focus.
After reading the story, you can ask some simple questions to make sure they are listening.
7. Give Pauses in Every Activity
Giving pauses in every activity is important so that children don't get tired and lose focus.
For example, you can allow your children to draw for 8–10 minutes, then give them their favorite snack in between breaks.
After that, invite them to move on to other activities, such as making and shaping origami.
8. Train Children's Focus by Reducing Distractions
The next way to train children's focus is by creating a comfortable environment for them to learn and complete their tasks without being distracted.
When children are not truly enjoying their activities, they tend to be susceptible to distractions.
Distractions such as the sound of television, loud music, and smartphones can interfere with children's focus.
You can create a conducive study space to help them improve their focus.
9. Set Deadlines when Completing Tasks
Setting a deadline to complete a given task is one way to train children's focus.
By setting a limit on when they have to finish it, children will learn to respect time.
However, make sure that the time limit is neither too tight or loose, so that they can feel at ease.
Setting an appropriate time limit will help them stay focused on the task and keep their concentration steady.
10. Repeating the Same Activity
Next, ask your child to set the same schedule every day to study or complete tasks.
This way of training children's focus is allegedly effective in helping them establish a routine.
By doing these activities consistently, children will be better prepared and stay focused when studying or doing assignments.
11. Encourage Children to Do Physical Activities
Children tend to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Well, one good way to help them channel it is by doing physical activities.
Physical activities at the stages of child development, such as exercising, can help improve children's concentration and reduce boredom.
In addition, this way of training children's focus can also have a good effect on children's health.
12. Organize the Study Room Atmosphere
You can create a learning environment that suits your child's preferences to support their focus.
Some children prefer a quiet place, while others may feel comfortable when there is music.
You can adjust your child’s study space to their preferences to help them become more focused while studying or working on assignments.
13. Use Breathing Techniques
Teaching children about the proper breathing techniques, such as deep breathing, can help them calm down and refocus.
When your child is feeling stressed or struggling to focus, teach them to take deep breaths and exhale slowly. This helps focus and reduces anxiety.
14. Implementing the Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a method where children work or learn for 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. After 4 cycles, give them a longer break of about 15-20 minutes.
This method can help children stay focused for a short period of time without feeling overwhelmed, thus improving learning efficiency.
15. Provide Age-Appropriate Challenges
Providing challenges or tasks that are appropriate to the stages of child development and ability can motivate them to stay focused. Don't give tasks that are too difficult or too easy.
Challenging tasks will spark children's curiosity and encourage them to stay focused on completing them.
16. Give Praise or Rewards When Focused
A positive compliment or a small reward when children complete a task with focus can increase their motivation.
Make sure the reward is given as soon as the child successfully focuses on completing a task. This will form a good habit and make them feel appreciated.
17. Encourage Children to Interact with Nature
Outdoor activities, such as walking in the park or gardening, can help improve children's focus.
Outdoor activities allow children to clear their minds while sharpening their concentration. It also allows them to learn while playing in a more natural environment.
18. Implement a Consistent Daily Routine
A consistent routine helps children to know what to expect next, reduces their confusion, and helps them focus.
Setting a regular time for learning, playing, sleeping, and eating every day will make children feel calmer and focused on their tasks.
Causes of Difficult Focusing
When a child has difficulty focusing, it does not necessarily indicate a problem or lack of intelligence.
Sometimes, the child is really trying to concentrate, but there are certain distractions that make it difficult for them to focus.
So, here are some of the reasons why children have trouble focusing.
1. Not Getting Enough Nutrition
Lack of nutrition or consumption of nutritious food can cause children to have difficulty focusing.
When the required nutrients are not fulfilled, the child will have difficulty concentrating and absorbing information.
Therefore, make sure your child's nutrition is always fulfilled to maintain their focus and concentration.
2. Lack of Sleep
Children should sleep for 8–10 hours every day. Anything less can interfere with their ability to focus.
If your child sleeps less than eight hours a day, then they are likely to experience problems with concentration.
Therefore, it is important to ensure that your child gets enough sleep every day.
3. External Distractions
The environment around the child can also be a source of distractions that make it difficult for him to focus.
These distractions can be noises from television, music, smartphones, or anything else that catches their attention.
Some children may have difficulty dealing with these distractions, which in turn makes them unfocused.
4. Learning Difficulties
If your child can't focus, it's a good idea to start looking into whether there's a possibility that he or she may be experiencing learning difficulties.
In some situations, children who struggle with concentration could have disorders such as ADD, ADHD, or dyslexia.
They may also face hearing problems such as CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder).
Children with learning disabilities often require the help of a tutor to help them focus on understanding lessons.
5. Lack of Motivation
In certain situations, children can struggle to concentrate when they lack motivation.
Children who lack motivation to listen or pay attention to a certain topic will find it difficult to concentrate.
Negative Impact of Children’s Difficulty Focusing
Difficulty focusing can cause problems for children, both in everyday life and at school. Some of the problems that may arise are:
- Difficulty distinguishing what is important and what is not.
- Too many distracting thoughts.
- Not being able to follow a conversation well.
- Difficulty focusing on one activity at a time.
- Not being able to filter out irrelevant information, sounds, or visuals.
- Performing tasks without following instructions properly results in less than optimal work.
- Can't follow directions well.
- Difficulty concentrating for long periods without being distracted.
That's how to train your child's focus. Make sure you understand them well so that you can help your child in completing daily tasks.
As mentioned earlier, nutritional deficiencies can cause children to be less able to concentrate.
Well, to fulfill these nutritional needs, make sure children get enough fluid intake by drinking mineral water, such as AQUA. Drinking healthy mineral water can help children focus more easily. For that, #AQUADULU.
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Each AQUA water source is also in the deepest layer and has a protective layer, so the water is free from pollution, and AQUA is safe for consumption.
Not only that, because of its purity, AQUA tastes naturally cold without the need to be cooled first.
So what are you waiting for? Always choose AQUA DULU to help replenish children's body fluids every day.
Created by nature, 100% PURE mountain mineral water without any additives, just the way nature intended you to drink it.
