1. Focus on your studies and make getting an education a priority in your life.
One of the unique features of the brain is that its energy can be easily focused on what seems important to a person. If all your actions are guided by the priority of learning, then you will achieve concentration much easier, since the brain will automatically attract it to learning. Your future depends on the knowledge and skills acquired as a student. Only you benefit from the education you receive. Therefore, give priority to education in your life by making a list of the benefits it brings and remembering them well.
The most important advantage is that education makes all aspects of life complete: spiritual, financial, career, as well as personal, related to health and love.
2. Get rid of external stimuli that interfere with concentration.
The brain is designed to process all information that reaches the senses. Thanks to this, we learn about possible danger.
Don’t blame yourself for being distracted by the circumstances around you and unable to concentrate on your studies, but simply try to remove everything that bothers you. Here's what you can do about it.
Ask your family to help you concentrate on your studies.
+ Ask them to turn off (or dim) noise sources (TV, radio, etc.) during your activities.
+ If the sound still bothers you, use earplugs or headphones. Naturally, the latter should not have music!
+ Keep books and other items of interest outside your room.
+ Turn off your mobile phone and close the door to your room.
3. Get rid of the worst enemies of concentration - extraneous thoughts. After you've closed the doors, turned off the TV and radio, and put earplugs in your ears, other stimuli - thoughts - arise inside your brain.
Even when you open a book and stare at it, you find yourself thinking about completely different things! It is completely natural that different thoughts are swarming in your head. This phenomenon is common to all people.
How to solve this problem? One thing is clear: there is no point in fighting thoughts. When you start fighting a thought, you transfer more energy to it and it becomes more intrusive.
Instead of resisting, simply state:
For the next 2 hours I will only think about chemistry classes, and I will think about the rest later!
By repeating this setup, you will gradually be able to concentrate on your studies. At first, annoying thoughts will not want to leave you. Just ignore them and continue your studies. Then they will stop bothering you and demanding your attention!
4. Use simple concentration techniques in class or at home and learn a lot of material with little effort.
Sit comfortably during class.
+ Take a deep breath every 10 minutes.
+ Mentally ask questions about the topic while listening to a lecture or studying material to attract the brain's attention to the topic of the lesson.
Questions during the lesson force you to be vigilant. This is explained by a feature of the brain: the moment it hears a question, it enters the search stage and remains in it until it finds the answer or you ask the next question.
The moment you ask a question and concentrate your attention 100% on the material being studied, extraneous thoughts leave you. Plus, whatever subject you study, you will understand it better. Keep asking questions for 3-4 weeks and you will get into the habit of focusing your full attention whenever you want.
5. Recharge your body with energy: before starting classes and during breaks, take 3-4 deep breaths and stretch your body.
Your body is made up of trillions of living cells. They need a constant supply of nutrients and frequent rest so that they can function better and serve you effectively.
Necessary nutrients are supplied throughout the body through proper blood circulation.
When you change your position or relieve tension, the cells have time to rest and are slightly recharged with energy.
This is very important, otherwise even the simplest activities can turn out to be difficult work for you. Here's what you need to do to help your body.
Stretch like a cat. Stretching relaxes the body, improves blood circulation and reduces stress on the brain.
+ Take 3-4 slow, deep breaths before and after exercise to provide oxygen to your brain.
+ When in class or at home, sit comfortably so that no part of your body feels tense.
6. Use specific statements to help you concentrate for a long time.
You can concentrate on studying a topic and stay focused for a long time with the help of the following specific statements. + “I can concentrate at will. I like to do one thing at a time.” + “Study is my priority.
Because the classes will help me gain important knowledge to start my career.”
+ “For the next two hours I'm going to focus on studying physics (or another subject). I love physics. She is useful and interesting."
Each affirmation targets positive thoughts, which automatically increase the power of your attention and make you think and act like a high-performing student! Let this become your habit. And to do this, repeat all statements 3 times before starting classes.
7. Pay close attention to every activity, even eating or watching TV series!
Like any skill, concentration develops through practice.
Believe it or not, you already know how to concentrate 100%.
Surprised? What do you think about when you watch a funny television series, watch a brutal battle between a hero and a villain in a computer game, or read an adventure book? Yes, in such situations you are so focused that you don't think about anything else. This is precisely 100% concentration of attention. So, it has been proven that you already have the ability to fully concentrate your attention in certain conditions.
Now you just have to transfer this skill to other circumstances - to a lecture in class, to study at home, to follow the flow of a conversation, etc.
In fact, it can be used daily as a workout. For example, when your friend begins to tell you something, mentally say to yourself: “I will fully concentrate on what my friend is saying.” And then try your best not to miss a single word.
8. Train the ability to stay in only one lesson in the allotted time.
This is a simple and at the same time effective method of increasing attention. With its help, you can train yourself to do what you want and concentrate on it for a long time.
By developing this ability, you will acquire a useful habit. Can you imagine her strength? All the beautiful things around you are the result of the focused consciousness of some people. You, too, can develop this ability in yourself by training your consciousness.
Here are two simple exercises to practice.
Listen to the sound of musical instruments. Sit quietly and close your eyes. Imagine that you are listening to a violin, flute or other musical instrument. Choose only one instrument in the allotted time and imagine its sound for two minutes. Then choose another tool. Perform math operations orally. Close your eyes and multiply the numbers verbally. Start with two-digit numbers and then move on to more complex numbers.
9. Never say that you cannot concentrate - this reinforces your inability to concentrate. Instead, say: “I can concentrate on any subject for any length of time.”
Repetitive thoughts and actions become habits. Many of us have repeatedly enjoyed the following negative thoughts.
+ “I can’t fully concentrate.”
+ “It takes years of practice to learn to fully concentrate, even for a minute.” Repeating such thoughts creates the belief that learning attention is very difficult. But you know that practice and training can improve any ability.
Here's another way to quickly improve your attention. Whenever you feel like you are concentrating better, immediately reinforce your ability with the following affirmations.
+ “My ability to concentrate is improving.”
+ “Day after day, I am able to maintain my attention better and longer.”
10. Develop the habit of studying on a schedule to improve your concentration.
By studying on schedule, you feel calm and confident that you will have time to cover all the material before the exams. And the feeling of calm helps to better concentrate during classes, because there is no tension.
Make it your policy to study on a schedule. You may already be using some semblance of a schedule. Once you create a schedule, use it regularly to reap all of the following benefits.
Concentrating during classes.
+ Life without stress.
+ Enough time to develop the skills you need to live a better life.
This habit is worth its weight in gold.
By some amazing coincidence, every time a child needs to do homework or prepare for a test, he has the need to drink, eat, go to the toilet, or urgently call a friend. If you do not believe in miracles, then only one conclusion suggests itself: it is difficult for the child to concentrate.
Concentration- this is the ability to maintain attention on any object for a long time. All people experience difficulty concentrating from time to time. If it is difficult for an adult to force himself to do boring, monotonous work for a long time, what can we say about a child who has to make a choice between a mathematics textbook and a computer game. At the same time, a student can do what he loves for hours, ignoring everything that is not related to him, and without showing any signs of fatigue.
It turns out that one of the main reasons for difficulty concentrating is lack of interest. If a child does not see any benefit from the task being performed for himself personally, he has no reason to direct attention to it. In this case, an adult needs to come up with this very reason. For example, tell your child that an interesting film starts in half an hour, but you can watch it only if all your homework is done, because the film ends late.
The second reason for difficulty concentrating is fatigue. Lack of sleep, a large number of activities, excessive demands, malaise - all this makes the child think about rest, and not about study. Observe how long the student maintains optimal performance, and encourage him to take a break after this period. Rest can last no more than ten minutes and include light physical activity. Ask your child to water the flowers, help you sort out grocery bags, etc. It is better not to give him the opportunity to play at this moment, because then it will be difficult for him to switch to classes.
Another important factor is disturbance of mental balance. If a child is upset, depressed, or offended by something, he will involuntarily return to the problem that bothers him again and again. Therefore, before “settling” a child down for lessons, it is necessary to give him the opportunity to calm down, express your understanding of his experiences, give advice, and support.
Sometimes a child is so carried away by some thoughts that no amount of tricks or persuasion can help him forget about them for a while. For example, it can be difficult for younger schoolchildren to concentrate if they are waiting for an evening trip to the circus, to the park, etc. In this case, you need to give the child the opportunity to “touch the dream” - let him hold the tickets, tell him how close you will sit to the stage. This will allow the child to throw out some of the overwhelming emotions that are interfering with his studies.
Looking at a textbook or notebook, the child sees with peripheral vision his favorite robot or bear lying nearby, hears the sounds of the radio or smells delicious potatoes. It is difficult to demand complete concentration from a child when surrounded by so many temptations. Of course, you can’t put a schoolchild and his school supplies in a vacuum chamber, but you can remove the robot from under his nose and turn off the radio.
If the influence of all the described factors is eliminated, and the child’s attention continues to wander to any subjects except those related to study, this indicates that his ability to concentrate needs special training.
Exercise 1. Maintain the pose.
Children are characterized by activity and mobility, so sitting at a table for a long time physically tires them. Games such as “The Sea is Troubled”, “Freeze!” will help you learn to maintain a pose for a long time. or "Monument". For example, in the last game the child is asked to portray some famous person and freeze without moving. To make the child perform the exercise more diligently, you can introduce an element of competition into the game: who will maintain the chosen pose longer, not sway, not blink, etc.
Exercise 2. Relieving tension.
In addition to maintaining the necessary muscle tension, the child must be able to relax the muscles when feeling tired. You can quickly relieve tension and feel a surge of strength with the help of the following exercises: - take 5-7 deep breaths and exhalations; - stretch your whole body, stretching your arms behind your head and your legs forward; - rub the bridge of your nose, temples, palm against palm. - sitting on a chair or standing on the floor, make several turns of the body to the right and left.
Exercise 3. We are mysteriously silent.
Extraneous conversations interfere with concentration no less than bright distracting objects. By asking you questions, yelling, imitating his classmates, or pretending to be Batman, the child involuntarily escapes the essence of the work being done. Playing “silence” will allow the child to learn to suppress irrelevant remarks and exclamations. Agree with your child about a prize that will be given to the one who remains silent the longest. This will give you the opportunity not to react to your child’s questions, and give him the opportunity to independently and quickly complete the task. You can also play a game with the whole family in which participants must guess a word or phrase that one of the players depicts using facial expressions and gestures.
Exercise 4. Direct your gaze.
The ability to concentrate attention presupposes the ability to hold the desired object in the field of vision for a long time. Many children lack this very skill. In order to develop it, any games that develop the accuracy of hitting a target are suitable, for example: small towns, shooting at a shooting range, throwing rings. At home, you can try making match towers, for girls - embroidering, and for boys - burning.
Exercise 5. Switching attention.
In order not to fall into the power of distractions for a long time, the child needs to be able to quickly switch attention back to the task. Games that contain two or three conditioned signals will help with this, to which the child must react in different ways, for example: hearing one clap - sit down, two clap - jump, three clap - raise your hands. A more complex version of this game is “Confusion”. Ask your child to show those parts of the body that you name, but show them incorrectly - for example, say “eye” and touch your nose. The pace of the game can be gradually accelerated. The main thing is that you don’t get confused yourself!
You can also combine attention exercises with memory training. Ask your child to look carefully at the arrangement of objects in the room, and then ask him to go out the door. While he is away, rearrange two or three objects and call the child. His task is to determine what has changed during his absence.
Unfortunately, in some cases, significant impairments in concentration may indicate the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which occurs when certain brain structures are dysfunctional. If systematic exercises with your child do not produce results, you should consult a neurologist.
In every family there are conflicts, quarrels and crisis situations, and, as a rule, they are caused by the same reasons. When it comes to lessons and studying, problems most often arise of the same type. In this chapter we will tell you how to act correctly in typical difficult situations and quickly resolve conflicts. Of course, not all problems can be solved with these tips. Sometimes it is advisable to seek professional help.
What to do if a child...
...digging?
Before scolding your child for not sitting down to study, think about whether there is a good reason for this. Mutual misunderstanding only increases irritation. If you spoil your child's mood with an argument before he sits down for homework, he will have even less desire to do it. Try as calmly as possible to convince your child to do his homework.
Have you asked your child to sit down for homework many times, but he still plays with his cars or dolls? Don't let a conflict break out. Calmly remind your child that the time allotted for lessons has already passed and that he can play later, this will be his reward for his work. You can talk about how you convince yourself when you need to muster up the courage to do something unpleasant, such as ironing clothes. If your child sits down for homework at the same time every day, this will help you avoid quarrels on this topic.
If you see that your child is distracted and daydreaming while working, try to find out what the reason is. Perhaps he needed a break before starting his lessons to calm down or relax. Then you should discuss with your child whether you have chosen the right time for doing homework, maybe it should be moved. Try changing the timing of your lessons.
Another reason for a child's inattentiveness may be an excessive amount of work. Perhaps the child does not know where to start because there are too many exercises. In this case, a lesson plan will help.
If your child is often distracted during lessons, you need to work on his self-control. Invite him to write down on a piece of paper all the extraneous thoughts that come to his mind while he is studying. Most likely, there will be many important things on the list that the child is afraid to forget about. Once they are all down on paper, they no longer seem so urgent and can be done later. It will be easier for the child to concentrate on the task he is performing at the moment.
An alarm clock or an hourglass can help primary school-aged children concentrate. Decide with your child how many minutes it should take him to complete the task, agree that he will not rush and will try to do everything properly. If the time is up, we close the textbook, this is an iron rule. If the child was distracted and did not have time to complete the task, then he will have to go to school like this. A teacher's remark is often much more effective than constant parental nagging.
...can't concentrate?
The reasons may be different. Maybe your child needs to rest, get some fresh air, calm down, or drink some water. Lack of sleep also reduces attention. Watching too much television overloads your child's brain with too much information, which also makes it difficult for him to concentrate on his lessons. Limit your time watching TV shows and playing games on the computer.
It is necessary to remove everything from the desktop that can distract the child - the more easily he is distracted, the fewer unnecessary things should be on the table. To increase concentration while reading, teachers recommend cutting out a “viewing window” from paper, through which only the necessary lines are visible.
Reconsider your own behavior. Perhaps you yourself distract your child with comments or what you consider valuable advice. Or you disrupt his thought process by offering your help. Do something else while your child is doing his homework, and intervene only if he really cannot cope on his own.
...feels overwhelmed and doesn't know where to start?
This feeling is paralyzing, but giving up and burying your head in the sand is not the answer. Help the child. First of all, he needs to feel that he can cope with the situation. To begin with, the path of climbing a big mountain needs to be divided into small stages. Together, make a plan for your child to act on.
It should be as specific as possible. Let your child work through the list and cross off item by item.
Perhaps the child is also slow because he misunderstood the task and does not understand what is required of him. Then you should work as a “translator” and explain to the child what he should do.
It is important that the child rests between tasks. Before the break, he should think about where he will start working again and prepare everything for this - then returning to classes will not be difficult.
If your child constantly feels overloaded, it’s time to sound the alarm. Maybe he has accumulated large gaps in knowledge in basic subjects? This problem needs to be solved. Discuss it with your teacher.
...doesn't know what he's been asked to do?
Don’t rush to grab the phone and call your offspring’s classmates, think about who is responsible for ensuring that homework is written down in the diary? Ask him why he was careless in his duty. Was he chatting with his desk neighbor, only writing down half of it, looking out the window, thinking about something else? After that, let him try to solve the problem himself.
If such negligence occurs regularly, take action. Get a special notebook for writing down homework. As a last resort, you can ask teachers to spend some time checking that the child has written everything correctly, and you will also review the homework book and make sure that assignments are written down in all subjects. Strict control can be removed when the child becomes sufficiently responsible and obligatory.
...is stubborn and doesn't want to learn?
The child tears the notebook to shreds and shouts: “Biology is darkness! I don’t understand her!”, throws out her arms or kicks a chair? If you also raise your voice and shout in response, you will achieve little. Comforting a child in a fit of rage is also useless - the irritation may even intensify. Pull yourself together so as not to escalate the situation even more. The threat of punishment will only lead to increased aggression. The child must cope with his feelings himself, but you can only silently show him that you understand his anger and sympathize. If he can't calm down, try redirecting his attention to something else. Offer to look at the situation from the other side, explain that mistakes are a completely natural phenomenon and that he will certainly be able to find a solution. Remind your child how he recently completed tasks very easily, explain that he has no reason to doubt his abilities. Or encourage him to take a break and continue doing his homework later when he has calmed down.
When the anger passes, calmly talk to your child about what happened to him, without judging his behavior. Say that you understand everything, but him kicking the chair didn’t solve the problem. Tell him what you do when you're angry.
…gives up as soon as he encounters difficulties?
An eternal questioning look, every time “I can’t do it”? Explain to your child that you will not do his homework for him. Encourage him not to give up, but to think again.
If you see that the task is really difficult for him, help him with advice or leading questions, but do not suggest the answer. Challenges are an integral part of learning. Explain to your child that it is quite normal not to be able to do something the first time and that sometimes you need to try different solutions. As a rule, by discussing a problem out loud, a child finds a solution more easily.
Does a lack of self-confidence reduce a child's motivation? In this case, you must explain to him that you believe in his abilities and are convinced that he will cope with the task.
...claims that he cannot study well without the active influence of his elders?
Many schoolchildren, especially high school students, as well as some students, believe that they lack their own motivation and willpower - they need someone older, who has authority and power in their eyes, to “force” them to study. Students love to tell how they skipped lectures for a whole semester and had fun, and during the session they did not sleep at night, preparing for exams. Punctuality and reasonable work planning often seem stupid to them; this attitude towards the learning process is formed in school. Your task is to explain to the child that this position is incorrect and to teach him in advance a competent learning strategy. It happens that even children who are ambitiously striving for excellent grades “neglect” this or that subject because they are waiting for the right moment, “inspiration” to finally start studying. If you always wait for the muse to appear, the results will be disastrous. A student who knows how to plan his work is unlikely to experience a rush of adrenaline in his blood on the last night before the exam, but he will calmly go to bed with a pleasant feeling that everything is done and he is ready for the test.
... doesn't like a subject because he doesn't like the teacher?
Very often, with the arrival of a new teacher, children’s attitude towards the subject itself changes. When a teacher causes antipathy in a child, the subject becomes unloved and the student does not want to try. If your child has such a problem, it should not be ignored. Explain to him that you study not for the teacher or for the school, but for yourself, and you cannot allow yourself to neglect any subject due to external circumstances, especially if the subject itself is interesting to you. If a child does not like either the teacher or the subject itself, it will not be easy to find a way out, but you still need to try. Think with your child how he could benefit from the knowledge gained in these lessons: for example, during his next trip abroad he will be able to speak English himself with new friends, and without knowledge of history he will not be able to enter a university and get desired profession. Explain to him that you cannot change anything in the current situation, so he must tune in to productive work and gradually build a normal relationship with the teacher. In this way, you will place responsibility for the situation on the child, push him to independently resolve the conflict; this skill will definitely be useful to him in the future.
If there is an acute conflict between a child and a teacher, you need to talk - preferably all three of you.
Many parents note that their children may have difficulty focusing on one subject. In such cases, psychologists and teachers advise taking action immediately. The inability to concentrate results in falling behind in subjects at school. If a child cannot concentrate, then it is difficult for him to learn new concepts. This is a big obstacle to development. Recommendations from experts will help you overcome the problem.
The ability to concentrate - what is it?
This concept implies prolonged concentration of attention on a specific object. Intentional concentration is a difficult task that even adults sometimes cannot cope with. As for children, it is even more difficult for them to fully concentrate on one subject. However, this quality is simply necessary for successful learning, so it must be developed.
If your child is 5 years old, then he should be able to fix his attention on an object for about 8 minutes. Some children at this age are able to concentrate for 20 minutes. To find out this indicator for an older child, you need to multiply each year by 5 minutes. But much depends on the specific situation and the child’s character traits.
Factors that affect the ability to concentrate:
Having a strong interest in the subject;
presence of interference;
time of day;
If the child is not interested, then his attention will “jump” from one subject to another. This leads to lag in studies and loss of time. Any student would prefer to watch an interesting program on TV rather than read a boring textbook.
Main reasons for lack of concentration
1. After observing your child, you can make sure that while doing an interesting activity, he concentrates his attention for quite a long time. Getting carried away, children forget about lunch, a walk and other things to do. However, when it comes to routine lessons, they cannot concentrate. This is the main reason for the lack of attention. If a child does not see the benefit for himself in a certain activity, then he lacks incentives. In this case, parents need to create these incentives. Analyze the situation and come up with a good reason that can “stimulate” children’s interest. If the child is still small, then it is better to turn any training into an exciting game. Then he himself will not notice that the lesson has become interesting for him. When teaching your child to read and write, you can write letters not in a notebook, but on the asphalt or on a blackboard. Letters can be sculpted from adze or plasticine, drawn with crayons, paints, etc. Small children are not attracted to copybooks. But they immediately become interested in writing letters during games and walks.
2. If a child does not feel well, he will not be able to concentrate his attention in class. As a result of fatigue, physical illness or overwork, performance is significantly reduced. Therefore, an important task for parents is to create an optimal learning schedule. The child should not be overloaded. If you notice that your baby is tired, he needs to take a break. When studying at home, you need to pause for 10 minutes between classes. Let your child do physical exercises during this time. However, too much activity leads to children taking a long time to calm down after a pause. This should also be avoided.
3. If a child is upset about something, then he will also not be able to study. An offended or upset person constantly replays the situation in his head. A heart-to-heart conversation will help you get rid of negativity. Help your child express any pent-up resentment or irritation. Only after this will he come to his senses and be ready to concentrate. Very often, young children cannot study when they are waiting for some pleasant events. If you promised to take him to the circus or zoo, he is probably fantasizing. In this case, psychologists advise replaying the scene. Let him imagine what he wants and tell you about it. This will help the child express his emotions. Then he will be ready for productive activities.
“He forgets what he has just read, does not complete tasks, is easily distracted... The child has difficulty concentrating, and this worries parents. It’s as if they themselves are focused for eight hours a day! Mathematics, reading or solfeggio - it is difficult to fix attention on an activity that is boring. And in this, children differ little from us adults. In addition, the tasks that primary school sets for a child (perseverance, accuracy) mobilize all the energy and prevent - temporarily - from concentrating on other tasks. The constant inattention of a 7-10 year old schoolchild may be caused by a crisis situation in the family (fear of a stepfather, jealousy of a younger brother or sister) or stress related to school. Mental restlessness is incompatible with attention. Instead of making him nervous and increasing his anxiety, try to remain dispassionate and find out what worries or confuses your child. Our calmness is as contagious as our excitement.
Check: Does he have time to play and discharge his energy after school? Observe at what hours it is easier for him to concentrate on his studies, and offer to sit down for lessons at this time. If your child has difficulty switching from one task to another, create a lesson plan together and warn him in advance about what to do next. Remove everything unnecessary from your desk (toys, gadgets) and suggest starting homework with the easiest items - they “warm up” the brain and increase concentration. Encourage attempts to find answers yourself - curiosity develops the ability to focus on one subject.
But if a child is constantly excited, it is difficult for him to concentrate on any, even attractive, activity, if these symptoms are observed for longer than six months, it makes sense to contact a neurologist, who will identify (or not) a possible hyperactive disorder and offer appropriate help.”
About this
“The best methods for developing attention in children” Olga Mashtal “Attention disorders in children” Gerhard Lauth, Peter Schlottke Games, tasks, exercises and valuable practical tips collected in these books by child psychologists will help improve a child’s concentration at any age (Science and Technology ; Academy, 2008).
