Out of all the situations that a parent is encountering these days, given the unprecedented and seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic, this one stands out. The entire concept of taking classes online is not only new to parents but also to their offspring. This shift from a physical classroom to a virtual one has significantly decreased the attention span of little ones.
While attending classes physically earlier, they were able to sit for five hours in a classroom surrounded by their friends and colorful toys to play with, today they are hardly able to sit for a 30 minute online class without getting distracted at least five times!
CIVIL SERVANT MOM PROBLEMS
IPS officer Monica Bharadwaj, in a recent tweet, made it clear that she faced this problem with her son. She discussed her problem of not being able to convince her child to concentrate on online classes. She lamented that online classes of her young kids were taking a toll on her ‘mental peace’. She also sought suggestions from the virtual world. The police officer also revealed that she had already tried ‘inducement’, but to not much avail.
Her tweet generated lot of discussion as a number of people shared similar problems with their kids as well. One person revealed how his child always talks about cartoons when it comes to attending online classes. He also added that he and his family have utilized all their convincing skills in order to make the child sit for the class. A bunch of users too shared how children don’t listen to them in this matter.
CHILD PSYCHOLOGIST VIEWS
Indian Masterminds contacted Dr. Dharmendra Singh – Child Psychiatrist in AIIMS, Delhi for his opinion on this matter and for tips on how parents can convince their children to attend online classes.
Here’s what he had to say, “While offline, children get to mingle with their companions in a social gathering and exchange their thoughts and opinions. They like working together and motivate each other at the same time. However, online classes don’t allow this. They are simply sitting at their home, staring alone at their screen and are not able to mingle with their mates; which impacts their span of attention. They start getting distracted with whatever is happening around them, rather than concentrating on what’s being shown on the screen,” he says.
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Dr. Singh believes that the duration of an online class should be minimized so that instead of long and boring hours, a child is able to attend a short and crisp few minutes loaded with knowledge and ideas.
Furthermore, he states that having extracurricular school activities full of creativity such as art and craft and painting may attract the child fairly well and increase their span of attention.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
Dr. Singh considers parental involvement in their child’s studies, utmost important. He believes that if a parent will sit by their child’s side while he/she is attending their classes, it will ensure their concentration and they won’t have anything else to look at and get distracted. Simultaneously, this will also help the parent to be up-to-date with their child’s syllabus and performance in school.
He further says, “There should be at least a proper period of time in a day when the parents should leave all their work behind and sit, talk, or play with their child. Make them understand that if they wish to have two hours of fun/play time with mommy and daddy, they need to quickly finish their classes and homework. In this way, the children will look forward to their playtime with parents and complete their work and classes beforehand.”
Every kid is unique and requires special attention to their deeds. This pandemic has been hard even for them as it has snatched away their play dates and picnics. Children crave for company. Online classes surround them with a solitude. Spending some time with them can make them cheerful and may even re-create their bond with online classes!
