Freedom and space for the kids is gradually increasing negative habits for the children. Ofcourse its good to encourage kids freedom, but they are becoming lazy and hyper tensed due to the food habits. Kids today are growing up in a land of distraction a noisy, info-cluttered, hyper-mediated world where mental juggling is the norm. But, despite this trend, there are things that you can do to encourage focus in your childs daily routine.
Grab their attention:
Attention isnt just one thing. Its a set of three skills, focus, awareness, and executive attention i.e. planning and decision-making. And its teachable, scientists are discovering, by simply talking with your kids about attention and encouraging them to practice. How do you practice attention? Listen for the trumpet in a song. Play “Spot the Letter” on a car trip. Walk through the garden - using all your senses.
Give Preference to your children:
A first social skill for toddlers is joint attention a meeting of minds that comes from focusing on something together. But today were so used to splitting our focus that its hard to truly attend to any one thing or person. Continuous partial attention undermines our relationships. When we give each other half-focus at dinner or in conversation, we are effectively saying, “you arent worth my time.”
Teach the kid that do one work at a time:
Multitasking is a national pastime and kids are no exception. Sixty percent of kids age eight to 18 multitask at least some of the time theyre doing homework. But its not as easy as it looks! Toggling between tasks slows us down because the brain needs time to switch between new and old tasks, and ramp up for the new job. Warning: multitasking may also inhibit deeper, flexible learning. That means kids might do well on homework, yet learn the material less well. Teach kids to single-task to get the job done right.
Provide good environment:
Quelling distractions is both a matter of harnessing our attentional skills and creating a climate for focus. And today, kids are exposed to nearly six hours a day of non-print media. Two-thirds under six live in homes that keep the tv on half or more of the time – an environment linked to attention difficulties. Take a page from pioneering companies who are creating “white space” - places or times for uninterrupted, unwired thought.
Eat at home:
We snack, we gulp, we eat power bars on the run. Forty percent of our food budgets are spent eating out, up from a quarter in 1990. But this mobile eating undermines our ability to taste, sense and share our food. Weve fallen into a national habit of mindless eating, says Cornell psychology professor Brian Wansink. Take the time to stop and eat with your kids, whenever possible, noticing the smell, taste and feel of your food and encouraging them to do the same. Your whole family will be dialing down on stress, and boosting focus!
Be A Role Model:
If we want to nurture “Planet Focus” for our children, we have to cultivate our own attentional skills - and pass it on. Be an attentional role model. Give the gift of your attention. Carve out time for focused thinking and relating - and speak up against multitasking, interruptions and hyper-hurrying. Rediscover what its like to have a long conversation, to sit still, to go beyond whats first-up on Google. The word “attention” comes from the Latin verb meaning to “stretch toward.” Its not always easy to nurture your attentional skills - but its worthwhile.