How many times a day do you have to tell your child to “focus”? I know as an adult, that I have to remind myself to focus on a menial task daily. Well, in the teaching and development world, there is a big focus on paying attention, ADHD, and other disabilities or milestones that center on what they call: Executive Function and Cognitive Self-Regulation –or the ability to do daily tasks to survive and regulate our emotions.
It turns out that a large part of our children’s ability to focus and regulate emotions starts when they are infants, and by five years old they should be able to sustain their attention– for things they are interested in – for 30 minutes! It doesn’t stop there either. By five a child should also be beginning to pay attention and work for longer periods in things that DO NOT hold their interest as well… think chores, bills, all the boring stuff we have to do as adults even though we don’t enjoy them.
Now, if that is not the case, there may be something off or perhaps they are not engaging in active play long enough to build that endurance. Here are some resources to assist in achieving your child’s attention and other life skills, or to seek professional help as well:
- “Play Attention”
- ADHD/ ADD
- Executive Functioning
- Check out some story time programs we offer. This can help add your learning through experiences!
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