Be it school or home, today’s child is so habituated of listening to “Why don’t you pay attention”, that I feel they themselves have stopped paying attention to this!! Though we non stop, many times a day bombard them with this accusation, but not even a single time, take a pause to think that “What we as a parent have done to help our children develop this essential skill?”.
It is always easy to preach, but to teach is the real challenge. Let’s investigate ways to transform this - why don’t you pay attention – to – how can I help you in paying attention.
Attention is the foundation of learning. Children are born with the ability to be alert, but directing their attention is a behavior that develops over time. The way your child’s attention system develops in the early years influences his ability to attend life later. Cognitive Scientists – who study how we learn – have discovered that there are certain factors known to affect a brain’s ability to pay attention “at any age”. This information can be used in deciding our choices of playthings, activities and the way you interact with your child.
Following pointers will help you to capture your child’s attention:
1. INTENSITY
The brain has more fondness for great contrasts i.e. paying more attention to extremes – a loud noise or a quiet whisper, than to the midrange. Young babies will pay closer attention to objects that have some sharp contrasts. Research on vision has shown that before 3 months, high contrast colors like black and white are best to attract and maintain baby’s attention.
Try using a whisper next time you talk to your baby as you change the diapers.
Even for tweens and teens – sudden gentle tone after bursts of shouting and howling works like wonders – the change in tone catches their attention!!
2. SIZE MATTERS
The brain takes note of very large things and very small things more than the things in the middle. Kids immediately show us, by their reactions to what they see, the size matters to them.
Provide toys of different sizes, such as stacking blocks. Very large or very small stuffed animals or books also attract a child’s attention. A “Desi Toy” which can be of great help is the decorative “nested dolls” where the largest one opens in half to reveal an identical but smaller doll. That again opens to reveal an even smaller one, until you reach the very tiniest one. Another replica is the “Nested Egg” toy.
3. “NEW” IS THE NEED
We all are wired to respond to the new. Brains attend most carefully to new objects, sights, sounds or people - this is our survival mantra also. Latest clothing, new furniture trends, new friends, new places, new eating outlets – is what we crave for! The story is similar for a newborn too – nearly every event is novel for him as it’s happening for the first time. Even later, babies can tell when something changes like, rearrangement of furniture, a new mobile or mom getting a drastic haircut. My son was 3 years, when I got a boy cut, a nightmare it was for him that till now (he is 8 now), he checks it by reminding me not to do that again – before my every visit to salon.
All this does not mean that you have to run to the toy store every week! You can simply rotate toys or put them in different areas of the house or may be in your car. Thee best is to join a toy library. Introduce new food, new things while you take a nature walk or introduce a few new people.
Searching for “Novelty” in today’s time is not a tough task – the idea is to be balanced and reasonable.
4. OOO – ODD ONE OUT
“One of these things is not like the other”!
The brain takes note of the object which is unlike the others. Even toddlers find a sock placed on daddy’s head to be funny because it is not meant to be there.
A million dollar idea (I am sure all new moms are going to thank me for this), is that if you want your baby to notice and have a new food – put it in the middle of lots of things that match, for instance, among toys. It will be the first thing investigated.
5. EMOTIONS
Ever wondered why emoticons or smileys are such a hit?
Emotional events and feelings that we experience in every day situations are stored to a great extent in our brain than is any random information. “Emotions drives attention, attention drives memory and memory supports learning. Our emotional state affects our ability to pay attention. When you are nervous, afraid, upset or worried, it’s difficult to focus on learning. Conditions for learning are optimal when you are able to be relaxed but are alert.
You can use this knowledge to your advantage in many ways – right from birth. A newborn who is sleepy or hungry is not ready to play and thus learn.
Another million dollar idea to encourage your toddler to do regular tooth brushing is to associate the act of brushing with his favourite teddy. Demonstrating the use of a brush on teddy can make this chore easier to accept that if you were showing it as a strange new thing. What you are doing is that – you by using your child’s beloved teddy as a prop are making a positive emotional association, thereby capturing your child’s attention and thus facilitating the learning of this boring but essential task.
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