Learning

Child Easily Distracted While Studying? Practical Ways To Improve Focus and Motivation

Answered by Team ParentCircle

Is your child easily distracted? Do you want to help them stay focused when studying or in class? Arundhati Swamy, family counselor and head of Parent Engagement Programmes at ParentCircle, shares some actionable strategies that can help your child stay on task. My daughter is in Class 9. She is an above-average student. Her understanding of concepts is quite good. But her exam results aren’t that great. She feels demotivated because of this. Her teachers say that she tends to get impatient and lacks focus, which is why she makes many minor mistakes during exams. How do I help her focus better? Any tips on how I can motivate her in the right way?

- Smitha, Bengaluru

Smitha, disheartening, isn’t it, to see your child underperform in the exams? It feels like her abilities are being wasted. Now is the right time to intervene and set her on the path of success. It will stand her in good stead for the rest of her academic pursuits. So, why does your child grasp academic concepts well yet end up underperforming in the exams?

The teacher says your child is impatient and lacks focus. Merely pointing it out to the child is not enough.

How often have we heard teachers and ourselves advising children to focus on their studies?

• “You just need to focus on your work.”
• “Pay attention in class. You are not concentrating.”
• “You have the potential. Don’t waste it.”

Well-meaning words, no doubt. However, they don’t mean much to a child unless we break them down into doable actions so that they know exactly how to go about it. Let’s try to understand the concepts of attention, focus, and concentration so that you will know how to explain them to your daughter in practical ways.

Differences between attention, focus, and concentration?

Attention has two parts—focus and concentration.

Attention is the ability to focus on something to the exclusion of everything else.

Focus is when you intend or choose to concentrate on something.

Concentration is when you think deeply about something.

How to explain focus and concentration in practical ways?

For example, while at the beach, you choose what you want to focus on—the waves. Then you pay full attention only to the waves, even as you consciously exclude the sand, the sky, the people, and everything else around you. To concentrate on the waves, you tell yourself, “I will think deeply about the waves for the next 10 minutes.” And when sensations, thoughts, or feelings intrude on your mind, you will consciously turn your focus and concentration back on the waves.

Now, let’s take an example that’s more relevant to your child as a student. When she sits to study, she can say to herself:

“Now I am going to choose to pay attention only to learning this particular answer (focus). I will think deeply about it (concentration). Whenever I get distracted by something, I will consciously bring myself back to learning the answer.”

So, Smitha, now that we have broken down the concepts into doable actions, you could help your child identify the trouble spots in her learning. Is it an inability to focus, or something else? Her ability to stay focused will also depend a great deal on other important factors:

Well-being impacts focus and attention

Proper sleep, healthy eating habits, staying active, and mental alertness are basic to fitness, health, and well-being. At least seven to eight hours of sleep is essential to building sustained focus. Inadequate sleep will tire your child quickly, and she will need more time and effort to complete her work.

Improve your child’s sleep, diet, activity, and mental alertness

To ensure your child has a good night’s sleep:

• Set agreements about putting away her phone an hour before bedtime. If she has difficulty doing so, you could use a parental control app that shuts down her phone at a certain time. Children often need our support to stay within limits. Explain the setup to your child and say it’s to help her until she learns to use her phone responsibly.
• Help her settle down before bedtime. Experiences at school are often overwhelming. If she talks about them, great. Otherwise, help her turn off the background noise in her mind before bedtime. Calming techniques like deep breathing or soft chanting are simple, effective ways to calm the mind.
• Avoid giving her stimulating foods like chocolates and fruit drinks that spike energy levels and keep her awake longer than usual.
• Dim the lights and have a cozy chat, or stay beside her till she falls asleep. The warm feelings it generates can produce restful sleep.

To ensure your child eats healthy:

• Rather than force your child to eat foods she thoroughly dislikes, avoid the battles that could strain your relationship. Instead, get her to list all the vegetables and fruits she does like, and the ones she can tolerate. Provide them regularly, and on the occasional times when you must serve something she does not like to eat, allow her to skip the item, not the meal.

To ensure your child stays active:

• Ensure she gets enough physical movement each day—walking, climbing stairs, playing outdoors. Encourage her to be active during the PT class at school. Many girls of this age prefer to hang out and chat with friends instead of playing a game.

To ensure your child stays mentally alert:

• Encourage her to play word-building games, do puzzles, and engage in simple quizzes. She can try the free brain games available on reliable websites. Give her some simple household problems to solve, and have discussions that stimulate her thinking skills.

• If she is easily distracted by a wandering mind and struggles to get back on track, just being aware that this is happening to her is a step forward in regaining her focus. Prompt her to consciously refocus and concentrate by using self-talk, “Oops, I just got distracted. Now I’m going to focus on my work.”
• Accomplishing small achievable goals is self-encouraging and motivates her to stay focused. Taking short breaks while studying refreshes the mind.
• Pushing a distraction out of the mind may not always work. Deep breathing helps create a neutral space in the mind and eases it back to mental alertness.

Single-tasking is important for improving focus

Contrary to the common belief that multitasking makes us efficient, scientific studies aver that our brains are wired to concentrate on one thing at a time.

To ensure your child avoids multitasking:

• Explain that the brain uses more energy while shifting between tasks, and it takes longer to complete each task. Whereas, focusing on one task helps her complete it faster and gives her enough time to attend to other tasks.
• Train your child to maintain to-do lists. They help to be more organized, so important tasks are attended to. The lists help to take up tasks one at a time and set realistic timelines for each of them.

Planning skills and routines strengthen concentration

The “executive function” in your child’s brain is a set of skills that help her to:

• Make plans
• Set goals
• Prioritize tasks
• Filter disruptions
• Stay focused

Following daily routines, observing rules, playing imaginative games, and breaking up big tasks into smaller parts will help strengthen your child’s ability to focus. Also, constant practice helps her brain circuits rapidly connect to different areas responsible for learning.

However, if your child struggles even after applying the mechanics of attention, focus, and concentration to her studies, you can explore other areas of learning that may need her attention.

Understanding and applying concepts in exams

Understanding a concept is the first step. The next crucial step is to know how to apply it while writing an answer:

1. Think deeply about the question.
2. Recognize the context in which the question is asked.
3. Answer the question by explaining the concept in relation to the question.

Do ask your child if she can apply these three steps every time she prepares for tests and exams. You could give her plenty of practice questions to help build these skills.

Are stress and fear affecting your child's ability to focus?

Could fear be a cause for your child’s poor performance? Fear is a big block to good performance. Even well-prepared students can succumb to exam stress. While stress is normal, fear can escalate it to abnormal levels. Again, we tend to say things like, “Don’t be stressed.” Instead, you would do well to acknowledge the fear and help her talk about it. Much of their stress disappears just by knowing that their parent is being supportive, not advisory.

Emotional stress disrupts focus and motivation

Your child may be struggling with feelings of disappointment, frustration, and sadness. Emotional stress can disrupt focus and self-confidence. So, even as you try out the tips we have suggested so far, do reach out to support her. To encourage her to talk about her feelings, empathy works best. Get started by saying, “How does it feel when your teacher says you are impatient and lack focus? Do you agree with her?” If your child agrees with her teacher’s opinion, you could help her address the problem areas. In case she feels her teacher has judged her wrongly, ask your child to explain the challenges she is facing. Either way, the conversations will lead to a deeper understanding of what she is experiencing.

Smitha, we hope that your child will soon be able to motivate herself and do well in the exams. All the best to you and to your child’s success!

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Last updated on: December 18, 2025

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