Attention fitness is necessary so that a child can finish reading a page. A focused mind is vital to be creative and problem solving requires patience. Yet attention fitness is seldom practiced or modelled to children. Fast ideas and suggestions may be valued but insights and understanding may take time to develop.
Paying attention is a form of jogging. Jogging requires practice and training. And if you practice for a while, you may one day experience a feeling where time disappears. You are in a zone and feel like you could run forever.
Jennifer L. Roberts introduced students to the virtues of deep patience and close attention. The students were asked to prepare a research paper on a single work of art. The project should start by doing a close examination for a work of art. Ah, a close examination sounds easy. . . but this was a looooong examination. The students had to spend THREE hours looking at the painting.
The students were amazed at some of the things they could see after a while. Jennifer says that if you focus on the painting for a long time there are details that emerge. Teaching art students’ “patience engineering” allows them to slow down and explore new things. Things that a quick a fast glance might not show. Allow children time to process things deeply rather than shallow!
I must admit that looking at a painting for 3 hours – well, I simply could not do that. I like to focus for a short period, move around and return later to the problem. And so does many children. The time span three hours sounds like an eternity for college students. Naturally, a much shorter time may sound like an eternity for a young child, even though it can be a very short time from an adult’s perspective. The positive thing about this idea is that the value of carefully examining something is highlighted
Teaching your child to decide what to focus when he is looking at a painting may help him to stay focused. He could focus on aspects that he likes with the painting. Did the artist leave any clues in the painting? Or the way the color changes when he half closes his eyes.Let him suggest a couple of things and then look at a painting or picture for a “longish” time! This approach can also be used when focusing on generating creative ideas or solving problems. Deciding on what to focus on before starting a project enhances his chances of success.
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Photo: “Girl Kissing Dog” by artur84