Courtesy Deepti Rohan Rastogi
Why our children are so bored at school, cannot wait, get easily frustrated and have no real friends*
I am an educationalist with 10 years of experience working with children, parents, and teachers. I completely agree with this teacherโs message that our children getting worse and worse in many aspects. I hear the same consistent message from every teacher I meet. Clearly, throughout my ten years , I have seen and continue to see a decline in kidsโ social, emotional, academic functioning, as well as a sharp increase in learning disabilities and other diagnoses.
Todayโs children come to school emotionally unavailable for learning and there are many factors in our modern lifestyle that contribute to this. As we know, the brain is malleable. Through environment we can make the brain โstrongerโ or make it โweakerโ. I truly believe that with all our greatest intentions, we unfortunately remold our childrenโs brains in the wrong direction. Here is whyโฆ
1. Technology
โFree babysitting serviceโฆ the payment is waiting for you just around the cornerโ. We pay with our kidsโ nervous system, with their attention, and ability for delayed gratification. Compared to virtual reality, everyday life is boring. When kids come to the classroom, they are exposed to human voices and adequate visual stimulation as opposed to being bombarded with graphic explosions and special effects that they are used to seeing on the screens. After hours of virtual reality, processing information in a classroom becomes increasingly challenging for our kids because their brains are getting used to the high levels of stimulation that video games provide. The inability to process lower levels of stimulation leaves kids vulnerable to academic challenges. Technology also disconnects us emotionally from our children and our families. Parental emotional availability is the main nutrient for childโs brain. Unfortunately, we are gradually depriving our children from that nutrient.
2. Kids get everything they want the moment they want
โI am Hungry!!โ โIn a sec I will stop at drive thruโ โI am Thirsty!โ โHere is a vending machineโ. โI am bored!โ โUse my phone!โ The ability to delay gratification is one of the key factors for future success. We have all the greatest intention in mind to make our children happy, but unfortunately, we make them happy at the moment but miserable in a long term. To be able to delay gratification means to be able to function under stress. Our children are gradually becoming less equipped to deal with even minor stressors which eventually become huge obstacles to their success in life.
The inability to delay gratification is often seen in classrooms, malls, restaurants, and toy stores the moment the child hears โNoโ because parents have taught theirโchildโs brainโ to get what it wants right away
3. Kids rule the world
โMy son doesnโt like vegetablesโ โShe doesnโt like going to bed earlyโ โHe doesnโt like to eat breakfastโ โShe doesnโt like toys, but she is very good at her IPADโ โHe doesnโt want to get dressed on his ownโ โShe is too lazy to eat on her ownโ. This is what I hear from parents all the time. Since when do children dictate to us how to parent them? If we leave it all up to them , all they are going to do is eat macaroni and cheese, bagel with cream cheese, watch TV, play on their tablets, and never go to bed. What good are we doing them by giving them what they WANT when we know that it is not GOOD for them? Without proper nutrition and a good nightโs sleep, our kids come to school irritable, anxious, and inattentive. In addition, we send them the wrong message. They learn they can do what they want and not do what they donโt want. The concept of โneed to doโ is absent. Unfortunately, in order to achieve our goals in our lives, we have to do whatโs necessary which may not always be what we want to do. For example, if a child wants to be an A student, he needs to study hard. If he wants to be a successful soccer player, he needs to practice every day. Our children know very well what they want but have very hard time to do what is necessary to achieve that goal. This results in unattainable goals and leaves the kids disappointed.
4. Endless Fun
We created an artificial fun world for our children. There are no dull moments. The moment it becomes quiet, we run to entertain them again because otherwise we feel that we are not doing our parenting duty. We live in two separate worlds. They have their โfun โworld and we have our โworkโ world. Why arenโt children helping us in the kitchen or with laundry? Why donโt they tidy up their toys? This is basic monotonous work that trains the brain to be workable and function under โboredomโ which is the same โmuscleโ that is required to be eventually teachable at school. When they come to school and it is time for printing, their answer is โI canโt. It is too hard. Too boringโ Why? Because the workable โmuscleโ is not getting trained through endless fun. It gets trained through work.
5. Limited social interaction
We are all busy, so we give our kids digital gadgets and make them โbusyโ too. Kids used to play outside, where in unstructured natural environments, they learned and practiced their social skills. Unfortunately, technology replaced the outdoor time. Also, technology made the parents less available to socially interact with their kids. Obviously, our kids fall behindโฆthe babysitting gadget is not equipped for social skill development. Most successful people are the ones who have great social skills. This is the priority!
The brain is just like a muscle that is trainable and re-trainable. If you want your child to be able to bike, you teach him biking skills. If you want your child to be able to wait, you need to teach him patience. If you want your child to be able to socialize, you need to teach him social skills. The same applies to all the other skills. There is no difference!!
You can make a difference though in your childโs life by training your childโs brain so that your child will successfully function on social, emotional, and academic levels. Here is how:
1. Limit technology, and instead re-connect with your kids emotionally
Surprise them with flowers, share a smile, tickle them, put a love note in backpack or under their pillow, surprise them by taking them out for lunch on a school day, play together, Have eat together s, go biking,
2. Train delay gratification
Make them wait!!! It is ok to have โI am bored โ time โ this is the first step to creativityGradually increase the waiting time between โI wantโ and โI getโAvoid technology use in cars and restaurants, and instead teach them waiting while talking and playing gamesLimit constant snacking
3. Donโt be afraid to set the limits. Kids need limits to grow happy and healthy!!
Make a schedule for meal times, sleep times, technology timeThink of what is GOOD for them- not what they WANT/DONโT WANT. They are going to thank you for that later on in life. Parenting is a hard job. You need to be creative to make them do what is good for them because most of the time that is the exact opposite of what they wantKids need breakfast and nutritious food. They need to spend time outdoor and go to bed at consistent time in order to come to school available for learning the next day!Convert things that they donโt like doing/trying into fun, emotionally stimulating games
4. Teach your child to do monotonous work from early years as it is the foundation for future โworkabilityโ
Folding laundry, tidying up toys, hanging clothes, unpacking groceries, setting the table, making lunch, unpacking their lunch box, making their bed Be creative. Initially make it stimulating and fun so that their brain associates it with something positive.
5. Teach social skills
Teach them turn taking, sharing, losing/winning, compromising, complimenting others ,using โplease and thank youโ
From my experience, children change the moment parents change their perspective on parenting. Help your kids succeed in life by training and strengthening their brain sooner than later!!!
