Children are losing the ability to focus because we are not raising them in environments that demand they focus, and then when they get easily distracted, we are too quick to cry "ADHD!" 

When you observe infants, you will note how extremely focused they become when something catches their interest. If you've given your children a wholesome childhood, they too should be able to focus well, and they certainly should from ADHD. 

Prior to the 1970s, only 1-3% of children were diagnosed with any problems of this sort. If only 1 - 3% of children had any learning or behavioral problems, should we ask what’s going on?

What's going on is that the way children are experiencing their childhood today is very different from how they experienced it 50 years ago, and with the "different" came a whole host of problems. 

One of which is a country of overmedicated children. Regardless of whether nor not your child has received an ADHD label, there are many things you can do to help your child learn how to focus better. 

The ability to focus equates to more efficient studying and quicker comprehension, which means that your children will learn more, and, therefore, do better academically over the course of their educative years. 

Focus Tip #1

Help your child develop the extremely important skill of listening. We overlook this skill today, but it is a skill that's vital to communication, comprehension, courtesy, and intelligence. 

There are 3 things you start doing today, that will help your child tremendously:

1. Teach him not to interrupt you or anyone else when he is being spoken to

2. Take him into nature and let him sit quietly while paying attention to every single sound he can hear. Ask him to write down the sounds or, if he is too young to write, you can write them for him. If you have multiple children, you can let them play a game of who can hear the most sounds. 

We are losing the ability to hear more subtle sounds because of all the noise pollution, so taking your children into nature and helping them to develop more acute hearing will serve them well. 

3. Read outloud to your children every day. If you can read to them in the afternoon and before bed, that would be ideal. 

Mortimer Adler said that the ability to listen is not a natural gift, but it's a skill that we must work to acquire. He also pointed out that nobody teaches it, though it should be taught. 

Focus Tip #2

Encourage your children to engage in activities that help develop their focus muscle. 

1. Provide your children with puzzles from an early age. As they get older, get them more difficult puzzles. Puzzles requires children to focus acutely as they think about where each piece goes.

2. Give your young children colored pencils and blank paper and let them draw for as long as they like. For older children, teach them the rudiments of drawing because it not only develops the skill of observation (critical to reading people), but it also requires that they focus intently on their subject. 

3. Raise your children to play sports that require intense focus; such as ice skating, handball, or ping pong. 

Focus Tip #3

Choose entertainment for your children wisely. 

1. Raise your kids to love reading quality books. A good story will keep their focus for a long time. 

2. Have your children study a musical instrument and take them to classical music concerts. 

3. Well, the last one you know. Keep your kids away from screens. This is a no-brainer as any screen use will interfere with their brain development, their social skills, and their engagement in activities that will help them develop the ability to focus well. 

And, while we're helping our kids improve their focus, we can strengthen our own focus muscles too. We live in a highly distractable time, and everyone I know seems to complain about the need to improve their focus. 

For that, it's a simple formula: a little less Netflix, a little less internet scrolling,  and a little more meditation every day will work wonders. 

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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a homeschooling thought-leader and the founder of Smart Homeschooler.

As an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach, she has 23 years of experience working in education.

Developing a comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child, based on tradition and modern research, Liz devotes her time to helping parents to get it right.

Liz is available for one-on-one consultations as needed.

"I know Elizabeth Y. Hanson as a remarkably intelligent, highly sensitive woman with a moral nature and deep insight into differences between schooling and education. Elizabeth's mastery of current educational difficulties is a testimony to her comprehensive understanding of the competing worlds of schooling and education. She has a good heart and a good head. What more can I say?”

—John Taylor Gatto Distinguished educator, public speaker, and best-selling author of Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. For a copy of The Short Angry History of Compulsory Schooling, click here.