As a parent, you know how hard it is for kids to focus on their homework and day-to-day activities. With all the devices and apps, there are more distractions than ever before, making it almost impossible for kids to lock in and do their homework. The result? They keep procrastinating while doing their schoolwork or they need someone to keep pushing them to continue with what they’re doing.
According to a study published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, the simple presence of a cell phone near a person impacts their cognitive capacity. For parents, this means more work. You have to engage your kids in different activities to sharpen their concentration skills.
As a teacher myself, I know a thing or two about keeping kids focused while they learn and do their schoolwork, and in the guide below, I’ll share some of the tips I’ve found to be most effective at keeping kids on task.
Tips to Keep Kids Focused on Homework
Use Norton Family’s School Time feature
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Nowadays because children are given their own devices, they can use these devices when they are supposed to be working.
Manually monitoring them 24/7 just isn’t realistic. The good news is Norton Family makes monitoring your kids and keeping them focused on their homework incredibly easy.
Norton has recently introduced a new feature that is useful for parents to control their child’s smartphone usage during school or homework hours.
The Norton Family School Time feature allows parents to block out irrelevant sites to keep the children focused on doing school work rather than getting distracted by messages or games. This feature can also allow parents to block out distracting sites during the weekdays, so kids don’t get sucked into the time vortex and can only access the sites they need or are allowed.
The best part? Parents can create kids’ profiles and automate the School Time feature, making it a totally automated, hands-off process!
Click here to try Norton Family now.
Engage kids in focus-building activities
One of the best ways to build concentration amongst young kids is to engage them in focus-building games.
While giving them mobile phones might be convenient to keep them engaged while allowing the parents time to relax or do chores around the house, the bright lights, stimulating music, and easy swiping are what make them impatient and impact their ability to stay focused.
Engage children in activities as per their age to build concentration. When the child is young, parents will have to dedicate some time to them to build patience. Building structures with Lego pieces or solving an age-appropriate puzzle are some ways to build focus.
Games like “I Spy with my little eye…”, “Simon Says”, or “Spot the Difference” are also great for focus-building. It allows them to block off external and internal stimuli and concentrate on the task at hand. You can also invest in age-appropriate board games to allow them to truly multitask and think about their own and other players’ moves without losing focus.
Do one thing at a time
While the ability to multitask might be appreciable, it does diminish concentration and impacts performance. That’s why it’s important to teach our kids how to do one thing at a time. This can be very simple too.
With young kids, just singing the alphabet while looking at the letters can help them focus on the task at hand. For older children, an example is working on mental math problems together to help them build concentration. You can also enjoy solving a puzzle like Sudoku together or if the kids are younger, coloring together.
One important tip is to set an example yourself. That means that you must make sure that you, yourself are not distracted while you’re spending time with them. Children learn a lot from what they see. If they see you swiping through your phone or answering texts while playing with them, they will also feel that it is okay to take breaks during important projects. Although breaks are important, they should be planned rather than a mind distraction.
Keep at the project or puzzle till it is complete to teach your kids the importance of staying focused till they finish the task at hand.
Dedicate a space for homework
A dedicated workspace is quite important for keeping kids focused because it minimizes distractions. Here are some tips to organize a dedicated space for kids’ homework:
- Keep it organized–The place where the kids do their homework should have all the essentials like their books and stationery so they don’t have to get up from their place to fetch things. Ideally, their study space should be in their bedroom where they keep all their essentials.
- Keep it quiet–An important aspect of keeping the study space an area where kids can focus is to minimize the noise levels. The room should be quiet and the TV should be turned off – at least till they are done with their work.
- Use Apps like Norton–If kids have to use a laptop or any other device for doing their homework, using apps like Norton’s for their School Time feature would be pretty useful. While working, kids cannot access sites where they can be sucked into a time vortex. Older kids can use self-monitoring apps to keep these apps restricted till they complete their work.
Set planned breaks
Let’s get real, concentrating on a single task does lead to mental exhaustion. So, if a task is very long, kids do need some time to relax and recharge.
Planning breaks can be very useful. Parents can help younger kids to schedule breaks between tasks. The breaks could include play breaks or snack breaks – anything that makes them recharged and ready for the second round.
Older kids and teens can be allowed their phones or text with their peers during the breaks alongside some snacking to keep their minds ready for the second phase.
You can plan breaks according to time or chunk down the tasks and take planned breaks in between these chunks.
Practice breaking and prioritizing
A key to staying focused is to allow children to break down and prioritize their tasks. For instance, if they have three pieces of homework, they can first list them down, and then do them one at a time. Small rewards in between each homework completion can help children celebrate their small wins while staying motivated to complete the rest of the tasks.
Another way to help kids practice time management is a “piecemeal” strategy. Parents can give kids a timer to complete their work within the given time. For instance, give them 15 minutes to write as many facts about horses as they can.
This strategy allows them to understand the concept and importance of time and helps them to beat procrastination while they are working on their school tasks.
Final Thoughts
Keeping kids distraction-free in this era when smartphones and other technology have taken over our lives is very difficult.
Research has also proven that smartphone devices can make kids distracted and impact their ability to concentrate on the task at hand. This lack of concentration impacts the child’s self-confidence as they give up when they face minor challenges.
Keeping kids focused on their homework is the first step to developing their concentration abilities.
While there are lots of effective tactics you can use to help them out, I truly believe using Norton Family is essential for parents to keep an eye on their kids. The new School Time feature under Norton Family can be very useful to parents who have to give smartphones to their kids for homework or keep them busy while they are busy with chores.
