Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to get kids to pay attention

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 283 posts

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#111

Post by tootie »

maltalex wrote: post #4

> For starters, he says, ask your kid this question: 'What would you do if you didn't have to do anything else?' In the western world the answer to that question is often some addictive activity such as playing video games, or watching videos on youtube.

Even without screens, if you asked me as a kid it would be to play with toys, draw or maybe go play baseball with my friends. Conversely, my daughter has unfettered screen time on multiple devices with an A+ selection of games and videos, but she proactively started folding laundry this morning for no reason and then asked to practice coding with me. Why? Same reason as the Mayan kids. Genetics.

And, just to be pedantic because I hate the term, the Yucatan is in the Western World.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#112

Post by unit91 »

marmaduke wrote: post #110
unit91 wrote: post #109

I have 6 kids, and I've found it's pretty simple to get kids to pay attention (or anything else). Be consistent, and willing to discipline if necessary. Here's the order I follow: 1. Polite request 2. Polite command 3. Stern command 4. Warning 5. Push-ups 6. Spanking They know I love them and because of that love obedience is required. Situations rarely escalate past step 2, and step 6 is memorable. ETA: for anything…

Obedience is not the same as paying attention. My son can make coffee and an omelette not because I told him but because he thinks it’s fun.

Sure it is. "Son, pay attention please."

Kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for. Often people "can't" pay attention because they don't want to. Obvious exceptions apply (mental handicap, fatigue, etc).

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#113

Post by robbrown451 »

nickserv wrote: post #101
tonyarkles wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the western world the answer to that question is often some addictive activity such as playing video games, watching videos on youtube or something similar. I was a relatively free-range child. I had a bike, I had a pocket full of quarters to call home if I needed to, and if I wanted to I could stay home and play video games (we had an NES, followed by a SNES, but not that many games). What did I do? I rode my b…

There's a big difference in active and passive screen time. I got into computers in the early 90s and back then there was always a certain hands on aspect to it. From installing RAM to clearing drive space or making custom boot disks... Games actually thought me a lot! Now... Not so much. Much of the hardware is locked, nevermind the software. So kids get to thinking they can't make anything, that it's a primarily pa…

I agree except for the idea that hardware and software being locked somehow prevents creative activities.

If you want to do programming, you can do a huge amount just using browser APIs (and that is kind of nice because it is very easy to share what you do by sending people a link). You can do graphics (canvas, svg, webgl), audio, and so many other things.

But to use a computer creatively you don't have to be a programmer. You can use paint programs, 3d modeling programs, music programs such as DAWs, word processors/text editors for writing, and a huge number of other kinds of software that allow non-passive, creative activities.

The problem, as I see it, is that so many passive things are available too, and many are very attractive to kids.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#114

Post by s4vi0r »

unit91 wrote: post #109

I have 6 kids, and I've found it's pretty simple to get kids to pay attention (or anything else). Be consistent, and willing to discipline if necessary. Here's the order I follow: 1. Polite request 2. Polite command 3. Stern command 4. Warning 5. Push-ups 6. Spanking They know I love them and because of that love obedience is required. Situations rarely escalate past step 2, and step 6 is memorable. ETA: for anything…

Don't spank your kids. It has no benefit, and many negative effects.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#115

Post by zyxwvu »

nickjj wrote: post #5

What's really interesting to me is this same thing can be applied to adults too. The article writes: > For starters, he says, ask your kid this question: 'What would you do if you didn't have to do anything else?' I often wonder what civilization would be like if adults asked the same question to themselves and then lead a life where they focused on that instead of being pressured into "making a living".

Made me think of this qoute:

" I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." - Stephen Jay Gould

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#116

Post by cheerioty »

unit91 wrote: post #109

I have 6 kids, and I've found it's pretty simple to get kids to pay attention (or anything else). Be consistent, and willing to discipline if necessary. Here's the order I follow: 1. Polite request 2. Polite command 3. Stern command 4. Warning 5. Push-ups 6. Spanking They know I love them and because of that love obedience is required. Situations rarely escalate past step 2, and step 6 is memorable. ETA: for anything…

I really hope you're just trolling.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#117

Post by s-shellfish »

unit91 wrote: post #112
marmaduke wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obedience is not the same as paying attention. My son can make coffee and an omelette not because I told him but because he thinks it’s fun.

Sure it is. "Son, pay attention please." Kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for. Often people "can't" pay attention because they don't want to. Obvious exceptions apply (mental handicap, fatigue, etc).

Or because you shouldn't have to pay attention, if you don't want to.

For adults (or maybe just the nature of internet conversations), it can seem like a power dynamic. I demand you reflect me back to me, speak my language, concepts, awareness - not your own, etc.

That's what it can feel like, being required to pay attention at all times, like one person is the programmer, and the other is the computer.

It's nice to have a mind that sucks up everything but it's also nice to have a mind that is self directed.

As we age, we get stuck in ways of thinking, knowing, understanding just because we accumulate personal identity. These things are much more fluid if one allows them to be, that's what paying attention can mean. The idea of obedience, eek. Mental handicap, mental fatigue - without concrete proof, I think it's wise to not apply labels to individuals one must interact with.

People sometimes have difficulty paying attention because they need to come to their own understanding independently, and if you are always trying to shove information in - making sure they can output that information in the correct format, one isn't letting them get there as an individual.

Capable, sure they are. Sometimes they can be much more aware than they appear to be too, and the only difference that capacity doesn't manifest itself is because in a system where the only options are - reflect information in these correct formats, otherwise adult observation implies 'no attention paid', I mean... Can you be capable and feel as though you got there as an individual if those are the rules of the system?

Simplified, give people time, have patience. The reasons why they aren't 'getting it' is because you are trying to give the whole thing to them. Sometimes people want to get there independently, and once that gets boring, they probably can develop a greater desire to get there with others.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#118

Post by wrycoder »

TomMarius wrote: post #93
Kluny wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally I think there are more people than you think who would be perfectly happy to clean toilets as their contribution, so long as they were compensated fairly for it.

That would mean raising prices, and thus the toilet cleaner him/herself wouldn't be able to buy the things that you want them to reach anyways.

Rather, the toilet cleaner would be able to buy things previously unattainable, and the person who hired the cleaner would have less free cash to spend on other objectives, which would cause a slight drop in the price of those other objectives.

Raising the income of a toilet cleaner doesn't correspond to a general rise in prices. It might mean the development of self-cleaning toilets, which isn't a bad idea.

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#119

Post by [deleted] »

lgregg wrote: post #61
tomohawk wrote: post #43

This is pretty much how I was raised in a small midwestern farming community. I was in charge of the laundry by the time I was 6, and the lawn when I was 8 or 9, and summers were pretty much filled with activities that my friends and I could organize. Moving to the burbs where play was organized sports and kids had everything done for them was a really big shock. It was hard to believe how inept at life most of my pe…

I can relate, I was born/grew up overseas and was raised this way before my parents moved back to the states. I moved back with them, and it was surprising how little my friends had in life skills. I had learned to cook (from watching/learning) already and would cook for myself after school for example, while most of my friends would have zero ideas on what to do. It's sad how the U.S. Government prevents native Amer…

[deleted]

Re: How to get kids to pay attention

#120

Post by Buldak »

unit91 wrote: post #112
marmaduke wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obedience is not the same as paying attention. My son can make coffee and an omelette not because I told him but because he thinks it’s fun.

Sure it is. "Son, pay attention please." Kids are capable of much more than we give them credit for. Often people "can't" pay attention because they don't want to. Obvious exceptions apply (mental handicap, fatigue, etc).

I guess obedience implies literally anything insofar as you can instruct it.
Post reply on HN