We say that children are bad at paying attention, but we really mean that they're bad at not paying attention - they easily get distracted by anything interesting.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I get a little cranky with the whole business about kids not having attention spans. This reminds me of the usual business of thinking that the next generation is hopeless. Every generation has said that about every younger generation.
Today's children have very short attention spans because they are being reared on dreadful television programmes which are flickering away in the corner.
I do think, in general, children are so perceptive, and they watch and they get so much, and that's wonderful. And it's also difficult for them because they see so much, but they don't understand.
Attention is the fundamental instrument we use for learning, thinking, communicating, deciding, yet neither parents nor schools spend any time helping young people learn how to manage information streams and control the ways they deploy their attention.
If you watch young children play, you will notice that they create games, characters, situations, whole worlds in which they immerse themselves with intense concentration.
Kids are born curious about the world. What adults primarily do in the presence of kids is unwittingly thwart the curiosity of children.
Today, children are watching more and more television, and are bombarded over and over with images and content that have the potential to dramatically influence their behavior.
Children may not notice the positive moments in life unless we point them out to them.
That part of life is the thing that we really need to concentrate on. If you lose the way children look through their eyes at the world, it really becomes kind of a doldrum.
It is very easy to get people focused on children.