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How To Improve Listening Skills In Kids

Discussion in 'Schoolgoers & Teens' started by Jas82688, Jan 19, 2019.

  1. Jas82688

    Jas82688 Silver IL'ite

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    Hello ladies ,

    My kid goes to kindergarten and I wanted to know how to improve her listening skills ..

    I get very few time to spend with my kid as I have another toddler too .. I read every two days for 30 min .. and bring her some work sheets lots of books .. but am not finding enough time to make her read ..

    She can’t follow the instructions fir the first time we need to repeat it . Am getting tired of it after long hours of work and cooking cleaning and running behind toddler ..

    So am looking for suggestions what you do apart for reading to improve listening skills any thing like fun and playful ..?dad is lazy sits infrint of tv or laptop or phone after work .. he plays with her toys only on week end for 1 to 2 hours ..
     
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  2. BoysMom

    BoysMom Bronze IL'ite

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    There are several things in your post, reading to the kid, kid reading by herself , lack of time for you , husband not spending time with kid on week day and finally the title about listening.

    Listening:
    Someone have to listen to the kid to showcase listening on a regular basis.
    To start with, you could tell them , how your day was or what the toddler did at home and ask how their day was and listen and prompt in between to help them tell.

    Sit down to their level and get their attention first and then give the instructions.

    Reading to the kid:
    Reading should be a bonding activity not a timed one and not to be rushed. Reading should ignite their imagination. We need to ask open questions in between , ask their opinion and liking.

    Training the child to read:
    For beginner to start read by themselves. There are reading series and one book with one sentence on each page for a week would be good. Before reading a new Book read the same book everyday until they could read the book themselves.
    I did start with phonic sounds first before starting with the book reading.

    Lack of time:
    I have always felt children are best companions and relaxation when given full attention. Leave the toddler to someone while attending the other one. Or involve the toddler while reading if possible.

    Husband not spending time: give the toddler to him while attending the other child. Over a period of time, try to involve him too.

    It takes time, consistency and patience with kids.
     
  3. Jas82688

    Jas82688 Silver IL'ite

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    Thanks for your replay ..

    I am doing these things like reading for her every day .. giving her breaks like 5 min in between. Encouraging her to read from small 2 lines to a passage ..

    But it’s always time based .. since I don’t find much time I need to plan it like that .. if am playful with her she takes it as advantage and won’t listen to instructions as she feels reading is bore ..

    Her interest is either play or watch tv .. everything apart from that is boring for her including eating .. so I have to be strict and force her to read on daily basis .. sometimes I loose patience as she won’t pay attention.. it’s can be a diff post again how to make kid focused ..
     
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  4. BoysMom

    BoysMom Bronze IL'ite

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    Yes you are doing the right thing and patience and consistency is the key.

    Passage might be bit heavy/intimidating for a hesitant beginner. Book with only pictures and a small sentence is a good start. I used oxford reading series for my children.

    I recommend proper books but there are also e-books if it would be of interest to read from the gadget.
     
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  5. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    There are two separate things you seem to want to achieve: make her read, improve listening skills.

    Both are lofty goals but would benefit from a little tweaking.
    Reading: Do not make it a chore or an unpleasant experience for her. It can make her dislike reading for years. At 5 years of age, the aim should be to explore the worlds that books open to us. One book per week, even a board book with a total of 30 words -- read slowly and peacefully and analyzed after reading -- is better than mandated 30 minutes reading sessions thrice a week. You mean well, but reading with child is an activity that cannot be done in a rush. Twenty minutes at her bedtime that are sacred, and you spend them with her reading a book as a nightly ritual would be an option. It counts for mom-daughter quality time when she is not competing for your attention with your phone, kitchen, dinner prep and toddler. It will also have a logical end time.

    Listening skills: At first I thought you meant the ability to really listen to others which even adults rarely demonstrate consistently. What you probably mean is the ability to follow instructions. My guess is that your DD is doing fine in school when required to follow instructions. At home, she is craving more time with you. With a more relaxed and unhurried you. If teacher is not commenting about her not following instructions at school, then, let it be. As it is, girls tend to be very sincere rule-followers in the 7-mid teens age group.

    Your time crunch can be distilled down to four factors: cooking, cleaning, toddler, lazy dad who prefers tv & laptop. At least two of these need realignment so you have more dispensable time in the evenings. : ) And obviously, toddler cannot be one of those two.

    For a working mom of Indian origin, weekday evening time being mostly devoid of cooking is essential right from kid's kindergarten years till child is at least in 7th or 8th grade. Nothing drains time like Indian cooking and the dirty vessels it generates.

    ====
    Don't force the reading, don't insist on it being done for x number of minutes. And go easy on any worksheets at this age. Reading a book is only part of the experience. Talk about it. Talk about the characters, what they did, why they did, relate it to your lives, ask what could be an alternate ending. Adapt to your hectic evening. She could sit at the kitchen table, while you cook and multitask retelling her the book's story with her as one of the characters, pausing at times so she can fill in.

    In a few months or even now, you could write small notes to her, and she writes back to you. On an iPad or chromebook. You could spend 30 minutes in the weekend writing a few notes for the week. The notes could be about a book you both are reading, about an old photo, or some upcoming event. At 6:30 or 7 pm, it becomes a daily activity that she gets a "just for her" note from mommy.

    For the reading, choosing what to read can be a tough decision with a still-reluctant reader. Years ago, we had the Berenstain Bears book collection. Once a collection or a few authors are pre-decided, Easy to get a few from the library every month. It is like not having to open the fridge and go "what should I cook today?" : )

    Sorry the response became a chapter book. : ) The gist is don't force reading. There are 4-5 things I forced each of my kids to do like that, and like clockwork, they grew to abhor each of those. Most didn't matter. One that I regret to this day is forcing them to look through the telescope I had bought and assembled. I so badly wanted them to look with wonder at the skies. Turns out such wonder won't be hurried.
     
    Last edited: Jan 29, 2019
  6. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    :yum: Sometimes, I think that you can compile a book from just such useful responses from you, and a few others.
     
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  7. Rihana

    Rihana Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    : ) It takes villages to raise the parents.
     
  8. Laks09

    Laks09 Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Adding to what @Rihana mentioned above, I would look for books of characters she loves to watch on tv. The entire Disney princess set is available as all sorts of beginning readers book. My dd was exactly like yours at that age. When all kids in school were reading the magic tree house series, she wasn’t interested at all. I spent a lot of time worrying about my inability to get her to read. I knew she loved being read to. It just had to be stories of her choice. I just started reading one or two books to her every night. Then, I found that she will try to read books that interests her. I got a ton of those books and made her read one line while I read three to finish the story. She slowly picked up reading fluently from bob books and from the princess books. Incidentally, today she got me an English essay to read. I marveled at her vocabulary and told my DH who was standing next to me about how she is a voracious reader and how that enhances the writing. He laughed and reminded me of all that effort I had put in years ago to get her to even like reading. He was reminding her that her love for reading came from a mom who decided to make sure she loves it. I then come here to find your thread!

    Don’t rush it. Reading is a life long habit. Start small. Even if she isn’t reading, you read to her. I was so worried comparing her to her peers but in hindsight it was nothing. She’s turned out ok and is reading beyond my expectations.
     
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  9. padmapavan46

    padmapavan46 New IL'ite

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    We do have books based on the age and level the kids are in reading.for example:kids in kindergarden would be more interested in reading books having more of pictures than the content.Try them once and encourage your kid to read it all be themselves loooking at the pictures..and dont forget kids are way much smarter than we think.
     
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  10. Jas82688

    Jas82688 Silver IL'ite

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    Thank you @Rihana for your detailed explanation .. yes am little bit easy on her these days she stared showing some interest finally ..

    Involved her dad too to read books for her .. but she did not like his style says it’s boring when Dad reads book .. ‍♀️So I am reading for her ..

    Heard bed time math is good for kids she stared doing some simple additions and subtractions on the fly..

    We got her report card where teacher mentioned she can’t fallow instructions for first time .. I have asked my kid she told she can’t understand what teacher says ..

    I told her to ask teacher again if you don’t get it’s meaning .. but she is very shy kid outside .. I think it may be due to bilingual she is not able to follow complete English instructions .
     

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