WHY CHILDREN CAN'T PAY ATTENTION - AND WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT
In today’s modern society, so many of our children are diagnosed with an inability to develop proper, sustained attention. The reasons behind it are complex, but can broadly be identified as environmental (specifically children’s food intake) and behavioral.
In this blog post, I’d like to focus on the latter.
Every child is born in this world with amazing gifts; they are naturally able to pay attention to their environment and to repeat the same activities tirelessly until they have satisfied themselves. They naturally develop the motor skills involved to perfection. Once they have mastered it, they start using these capabilities creatively. They naturally have the capacity to pay attention, and are motivated to do so.
Scientific experiments have been done in the realm of children’s attention span, and what these experiments have shown is that the main driver of attention is motivation – without motivation it’s very difficult to sustain attention. In order for attention to flourish, motivation has to come from within. In the authentic Montessori system, we call it the ‘prepared environment’; it’s the development of an environment that encourages and welcomes this motivation.
In a Montessori environment teachers really are guides; their main duty is to prepare the environment and to observe the children’s actions and manifestations which can give insight into the child’s motivation and drive. The children are not disciplined or forced; motivation on the part of children also need to come from within, children need to be given the autonomy, the freedom to develop this on their own. Montessori also gives children a certain responsibility for their environment, and this in turn fosters motivation.
Contrast this with today’s western society, where the innate gifts of attention and motivation that children are born with gradually atrophy. Children are not generally given this autonomy, this freedom to explore on their own. Parents do everything for their children, and everything comes ready-made and ready-bought. That means children often don’t even have the chance to observe an adult in a creative activity, such as cooking, sewing, or carpentry.
The school system also doesn’t encourage this motivation, it tends to control and discipline. A child’s inner urge to do something is not encouraged, but as no direction is given, children often almost rebel against this, and start to behave erratically and restlessly. The child is then pacified with some digital device, tablet or phone, and in that way ejected from the environment.
Parents no longer take the time to do things with their children; they rather take their children from school to extra-curricular activities, in order for them to not fall behind in this highly competitive world.
The serious issue of a lack of attention span with children can best be addressed by giving them the autonomy and freedom to explore their own interests which will motivate them and then attention will naturally follow. Parents can support this by providing natural materials, or by including their children in their daily chores – the key is being patient, and focus on the process, not the result. Let them explore and allow them to learn from their own mistakes.
In a nutshell, do things with your children, but don’t do them for your children. Be patient, and let them make mistakes. Observe them as objectively as possible, and you’ll see they will develop a longer attention span and a higher quality of focus. And if you don’t see the expected results, consider modifying their environment more (and as a parent, you’re part of that environment, of course).