Getting Your Child's Attention

A friend of mine recently told me about a great way to capture your child's attention. She learned this through a session with their family counselor. I've been trying this now for over a week and it works -- amazingly so.

Let me set the scene: Your child is zoning out and appears not to be hearing you. You are trying to get their attention by repeating yourself over and over again, each time getting louder. Soon you are shouting their name in every attempt to just get their attention.

Here's generally what the family counselor said to do (please know I might have some of the terminology wrong, but the essence will be there). When children are appearing to be ignoring you, actually they are extremely present in their lives. They are operating in their "Alpha" state of mind, a relaxed in-the-moment state also ideal for learning. Children always live in the moment; thinking the way adults think (past and future drama) is a learned behavior. We want our children to live in the moment, but each time we try to rip them away from the Alpha state by shouting their name, we are teaching them to enter the Beta state (where most of us live).

So, the best way to get a child's attention, without damaging their state of mind, you need to enter the Alpha state with them. You do this by singing. Yes, singing! Start singing their name or what you want them to do (it's time to get your shoes on...) and your child will almost immediately turn to you. Like I said, I've been doing this for over a week now and it hasn't failed yet -- even when my daughter was watching her favorite cartoon. And you don't have to have a nice singing voice either. Trust me.

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