“Schools don’t give homework of more than 15 minutes in a day” but I don’t think that’s the case with me as my daughter takes 1 hr to get ready for the homework and another 1 hr to finish her homework!!! Where is the concept of 15 minutes homework?? Well I am happy to announce that I am not alone here, it is a common issue with most of the preschooler to primary grade students, either they are not ready to seat or they are not ready to write.

I remember when I enrolled my daughter in Nursery, in very first PTM her teacher asked me “Is there any way your daughter can sit down” of course in polite way but she was really asking for my help and I suggested “Try with story books, she likes stories”. Well slowly her teacher too got very good bonding with her but yes challenge is always there. First she was not ready to seat and now she is not ready to write!!!

Your kid might be a sitting player or all the times explorer but when it is time for you to send them to preschool you must help them to seat and focus on particular things whether it is a toy, a book, a rhyme or even a play. First thing you should do is accept that your kids’ teacher is not complaining but just asking for your help as at the end you’re the one who knows your kid best.  Well even if you know everything it is not an easy task to teach your explorer to seat and focus and so here are some tips to help you out which really did the magic for me:

Know your kids: Observe your kid and figure out her nature as every kid is different in some or other way. Some kids can jump all the day long while some kids can get tired in just 10 minutes. Some can play with one toy for entire week while for some kids even 10 toys are not enough for one day. Some kids get scare from anything and everything while some kids are always ready to take risk. Figure out your kids’ nature to select the right activity to engage them.

Select the activity: Now as you know your kids’ nature, it is easy to choose the activity to engage them with which they can seat for a while. You may use books, puzzle, blocks, scribbling, drawing, coloring or musical instruments. All these activities are helpful to increase attention span of your kid. Respect your kids’ likes and dislikes, no need to play puzzle just because few of her age kids are playing with it.

Stick to time: If you really want to work on your kids’ concentration add one or two of these activities in her routine. If you are focusing on homework, add 10 minutes homework everyday even if it is off for school. This will make them ready to do the things which they don’t like to do but necessary to do.

Take a break: Bitter truth is most of the kids cannot focus on anything for more than 10 minutes so change the activity (subject in case of homework) after every 10 minutes to help them to be focused. If your kid is really hyper active you must take 5 minutes break after every 10 minutes work which will help her to release her extra energy.

Say No to distraction: This is really tough especially when your kid is explorer like mine!!! Even if everything is set anything can catch your kids’ attention and distract them. This includes your cell phone rings, chirping sound of bird, crawling ant on the floor, doorbell ring and many more. So choose the time and place carefully. That may be the case that when you send your kid to get pencil, she don’t turn up even after 10-15 minutes and when you check on your kid, you might catch her playing with something else in her room!!! Well accept it and enjoy it as this innocence makes them lively and loving but of course next time make sure everything is ready before you start your activity.

Praise for good: “Kids and stars” always works no matter what is the age. Just like every good behavior here you give them star for every 10 minutes work.