7 Ways to Improve Concentration in Children
Children today are more mentally alert than ever before. Is this, on the other hand, a positive development? Is it necessary for children to get more sleep? Is too much screen time bad for kids? These are just a few of the problems that parents face these days.
Here’s what you need to know about children’s concentration levels, as well as some practical tips for capturing your child’s attention and assisting them in concentrating more effectively.
What causes lack of concentration in children?
Concentration is defined as the ability to focus on one thing without being distracted by other things. A variety of factors, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), can contribute to this issue in children.
Children’s concentration problems can be aggravated by a poor diet, a lack of sleep, drug abuse, and chronic stress.
Sleep deprivation
According to studies, a person’s brain does not function normally when they do not get enough sleep. When a person is sleep deprived, their brain waves frequently lapse into sleep-like patterns while they are awake. This is why sleep-deprived children appear to “zone out” in class. Concentration has a direct correlation with sleep.
A diet high in sugar
Distraction is caused by a high sugar diet. Sugar can impair concentration. It also causes fatigue, dizziness, and migraine headaches. Sugary foods contain glucose, which is quickly absorbed in the bloodstream and is not stored as fat by the body after digestion. This leads to decreasing concentration in children.
A Poor diet
The consumption of junk foods, chocolate, and so on can lead to a lack of concentration in children, because diets should be balanced with wholesome foods, resulting in proper nutrition and choices. Similarly, poor school lunches cause drowsiness, especially on weekends, due to carbohydrate overeating at home during the week.
Furthermore, junk food is typically high in fat and sugar, which can make a child feel sluggish.
Stress
Children are especially susceptible to stress. A stressed-out child may have poor concentration or be unable to focus for an extended period of time on anything. As a result, he or she may find it difficult to concentrate in class.
Additionally, elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the body can cause a lack of concentration.
Stressful events or situations can set off an episode of ADHD. The main symptom of ADHD is the inability to focus on a single task without interruption.
Excessive use of screens affect concentration in children
Spending too much time in front of a screen (TV or computer) doubles the risk of attention deficit in young adults and children, according to studies conducted in the United States. Excessive video game use, for example, causes children to lose concentration.
Furthermore, excessive screen time frequently causes sleep deprivation by delaying bedtime.
Illness
Chronic conditions such as Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder cause some children to be unable to concentrate (ADHD). Children with ADHD, for example, have difficulty maintaining attention and are prone to impulsive behaviour.
According to studies, up to 11.32 percent of Indian schoolchildren have ADHD, with males being the most affected. Furthermore, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to have ADHD than those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.
Absence of physical activity
It has been demonstrated that exercise improves concentration. Inadequate or no exercise can lower a person’s concentration levels, resulting in an inability to concentrate over time, which may eventually lead to them not paying attention in school.
How to Help Your Child Concentrate
The good news is that you can help your children concentrate. Concentration, as previously stated, is a teachable skill that any child can learn to improve. The following suggestions are helpful:
1.Allow your child some downtime.
Giving a child a break is the most effective way for parents to deal with a child who is unable to concentrate on homework. If your child is having difficulty with homework, it is possible that they will be unable to focus on it because they lack the necessary time and energy. Allow them to rest during the school day and start giving them breaks as needed.
Parents should never put their children under any kind of homework pressure. Make it clear to your child that you are a supportive parent and that they can come to you with any concerns. At the same time, set boundaries, which means not allowing the child to do anything they do not want to do.
It is critical to create a positive environment for them to learn and concentrate on their homework. They can help by asking what the child is trying to do and how they are feeling.
2.Make certain that the child gets enough sleep.
According to recent data, 88% of Indian households own a mobile phone, with more than 26% owning a smartphone.
The most intriguing discovery is that young mothers are among the most frequent smartphone users. It also means that when young children are not watching TV, they spend a lot of time staring at their smartphone screens.
Restricting screen time and creating a schedule for daily sleep time will help increase concentration in children as their brains will get more rest.
As a result, the children get poor quality sleep. Add to that the fact that, as evidenced by this report, academic pressure deprives children of adequate sleep.
As a result, it is your responsibility as a parent to provide a safe sleeping environment for your child. To that end, you’ll need to limit your OWN TV viewing time and eliminate distractions like smartphones.
3.Feed them a nutritious diet.
Less processed junk and more fiber-based and nutrient-rich foods will nourish and allow your child’s body to function optimally. A well-nourished body keeps blood sugar levels balanced, which keeps brain activity within a healthy range.
4.Assist them in establishing a routine.
A significant amount of research supports routine and its critical role in mental health and increasing concentration levels.
Routines, for example, were discovered to help people avoid anxiety and stress in one study. It also helps them form good habits and feel more productive and focused.
As a result, teaching your children the value of having a structure that guides their daily activities makes sense.
5.Teach them activities that will assist them in concentrating
Lessons in some schools are designed to help students pay attention and stay on task for extended periods of time. You could, however, participate in such activities with your children at home as well. Again, there are a plethora of tools available, including the internet, that could be extremely useful in this endeavour.
BrainMetrix for example, is an educational website dedicated to brain training programs; you can achieve optimum fitness by visiting your gym, and engaging in a brain fitness program that is both fun and stimulating. Here you stretch and train your brain to the limit, you can train and test your memory or test your reflexes or even your brain creativity and improve it and much more.
Just check the menu on the left for a full list of their brain training games and activities which are all loads of fun.
Youtube channels like Brightside have a lot of videos which have activities that will help increase concentration in your children.
6.Relaxation techniques
Meditation, yoga, or breathing exercises can help control symptoms by increasing self-awareness and distracting oneself from being aware.
The above-mentioned relaxation techniques are simple to learn and apply. The relaxation techniques are simple to incorporate into the school routine, at home, at special events like parties, or at any other time. Relaxation benefits everyone’s learning process, so why not incorporate it into your child’s daily routine?
7.Participate in activities that will assist you in concentrating better.
Parents can also keep their children engaged by involving them in age-appropriate activities that require concentration or the ability to stay on task. Making lists, sorting objects in a cupboard, assembling puzzles, and so on are all examples.
Vocabulary word finding is very useful for breaking words down into small groups of letters so that visual association methods like memory palaces, mnemonics, and so on can be used to learn them more easily.
By making visual associations between letters and objects that are normally associated with the word, vocabulary words can also be used to make puzzles more difficult. This improves concentration skills because children remember things that are in a specific location or position more easily.
In conclusion
Nothing makes a parent happier than watching their child mature into a self-assured and accomplished adult. Such feats, on the other hand, require a significant amount of effort.
It all begins with teaching the child simple but important life skills, such as staying focused for an extended period of time. Concentration, fortunately, is a learned skill that can be honed.
