Tips for Improving Your Child's Attention Span

Studies have shown that the attention span of children has been constantly going downhill on a regular basis. Does your child watch a lot of television? If her or she watches a lot, you may want to reduce the amount of time that he/she spends in front of the TV immediately, because recent studies have shown that children who watch television face an increased risk of attention deficit problems by school age. If you are looking for ways to increase your child's attention span and get him or her from in front of the television, this article will offer several tips.

1. Limit the amount of television that you allow your child to watch to no more than 10 hours per week. Although this may seem like a daunting task, it is actually quite easy to accomplish. You will have to seek other means of entertainment to fill the void. Some great things to do are bird watching, gardening or yard work, reading etc.

2. If you have a younger child, it is not a good idea to fill this void by allowing them to play video games or spend an increased amount of time on the computer, because this will completely defeat the purpose of you taking them off of the television in the first place. Again your main goal should be to look for constructive things for them to do that will fill the void that the decreased television time has left.

3. Take your child on a visit to see family and friends. This is always a pleasant experience, especially if you are going to see someone that your child has not seen in a while, or someone that they really like to spend time with.

4. Take the time to read with your child on a regular basis. A good time limit to start out with is at least 15 minutes per day and this number can later be increased if your child is really responsive to the change in schedule. One benefit reading to your child is that it will increase their visual memory skills.

5. If you happen be a stay at home mom, one way to keep your child interested in exploring new things is to get them to help you in the kitchen. Most children love the chance to help out with the cooking when given the chance.

6. Another good way to fill the void that will be left from decreasing your child's television time is to expose your child to some classical music a few times a week. There have been numerous tests that have shown that this will enhance their cognitive thinking skills.

These are just a few ideas that will allow you to decrease your child's television watching time while giving them productive things that they can do to fill the void.