Not long ago, a parent came to me to ask: a child can’t stop watching cartoons and can’t even call him to eat and play, but it is easy to be distracted by doing other things. What should I do?
In fact, there is really no need to kill the cartoon with a stick.
It is unrealistic not to show children cartoons at all. Parents might as well try the following tips to improve their children’s concentration by watching cartoons.
Nine months to one and a half years old: Identifying Characters with Picture Books
At this age, parents are advised to show their children cartoons with matching picture books. For example, the children all like < < Piggy Peggy > >, < < Wang Wang’s team has made great contributions > > these.
After watching cartoons, parents can watch matching picture books with their children. However, don’t read picture books and stories directly to children. At this time, parents have only one thing to do: open picture books and ask children questions.
Almost all children like to watch cartoons. However, in the eyes of parents, children are easy to indulge in watching cartoons, which is definitely not good for their children’s concentration.
For example, turn over a page and ask the child, where is Page? Where is Father Pig? Then let the child come out with his finger.
If the child is right, parents can applaud and praise the child happily. In this way, children will gradually like watching cartoons and reading picture books with their parents.
In this [question-answer-encourage] process, not only can the child’s visual search ability be developed, but also can help him establish his initial interest in reading.
1 ~ 3 years old: recall the plot and ask open questions,
After the child has watched the cartoon for a period of time and is familiar with a certain plot, his parents can interspersed with open and closed questions to help him recall the plot.
For example, after the child watches the animation, his parents can ask [does pig father have a big belly? Is the father’s stomach big? ].
It seems very simple to ask questions and interact with each other, but it can stimulate the [hippocampus] in the child’s brain and exercise his memory extraction ability when the child recalls.
Children’s memory becomes better, and their concentration will naturally become better.
For example, when children watch cartoons, parents can ask [where are they going? ].
If the child really likes this cartoon, he will use his little brains, try to recall the plot and organize language to answer your questions.
This process will enable children to take the initiative to understand the plot of cartoons, instead of simply passively accepting the stimulation of cartoon pictures. This has trained children’s visual search ability, and their concentration has also been improved in this process.
3 ~ 5 Years Old: Exercise Thinking and Ask Complex Questions,
After the child is 3 years old, he will begin to speak complete sentences. At this time, parents can ask their children more difficult and advanced open questions, such as [are you watching what? [Why are they fighting? ].
If the child can clearly answer your question, such as: [they are quarrelling] or [they are running], this shows that the child’s brain has been able to process specific cartoon plots, turn what he sees into words, and then grasp the key points to summarize them.
This ability is called generalization thinking ability and is mainly controlled by the frontal lobe of the brain. If the generalization ability is good, the stimulation to the frontal lobe will be richer and the child’s concentration will be better.
Concentration is the basis for a child’s all-round development. A child with good concentration will also have better development in his memory, logical thinking ability, etc.
In addition to watching cartoons, during the period when children are 0 ~ 3 years old, we can also do many things in our life to cultivate children’s concentration, such as reading picture books, playing games, doing sports, etc.