How to Make Your Child Concentrate: Maria Montessori’s Way
by Jon Bennett
Attention deficit or hyperactive or not, there are ways of getting a child to concentrate on and master the things she loves to do. This is more than just ‘paying attention’ – it is a total absorption of the mind in a purposeful activity. This is the kind of concentration Maria Montessori tried to teach to her students, and here is how you can teach it to your children:
1. Let them do what interests them If you want her to have some practical experience in concentration, start with something she loves to do, and encourage her to master it. Let her choose anything that she wants so long as it is useful in any way at all and it isn’t dangerous or unethical.
2. Let them move When she is doing something she likes to do, let her move and choose the most comfortable and natural position. This promotes the mind-body cooperation so vital to concentration. When you disrupt this connection by preventing movement, you will see the clumsiness and distractibility so common among ADD/ADHD children.
3. Allow them to help Every parent knows that there is a time when a child desperately wants to help mum and dad around the house. At this stage, when she is between one and three years old, her ‘help’ may mean more trouble than anything else. But if you are patient and teach her how to help, you allow her mind to fix on practical things.
4. Use lots of practical activity to teach Teaching through practical life makes lessons interesting and easy to understand. This works well with all children, and especially with ADD/ADHD children, who learn better when they clearly understand the purpose for doing something.
5. Don’t disturb when they concentrate When a child is focused on any useful activity – tying her shoe laces by herself, or trying to vacuum the carpet – do not interrupt by staring, ‘helping’, correcting, or even praising. The correct thing to do is to ignore her, and to offer help, correction or praise only when she asks for help, or shows that she wants your approval.
These are practical experiences, child-size, in concentration. Protecting and nurturing these small seeds of concentration can build up her confidence, teach her to relate better to others, and, when she grows older, concentrate better on purely mental tasks.
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