Kids ARE busy by nature. They have short attention spans and that's to be expected.

The average attention span for a toddler in 3-6 minutes when they don't have adult support. I can hear some of you thinking that 3 minutes is an AGE in comparison to your kid!

It's important to support the development our children's attention span so that in turn they're more likely to learn language. It certainly won't happen overnight, but here are 4 things you can do tomorrow to work on attention:

1. Turn off the background noise. Can you imagine trying to learn a whole new language whilst beyonce is singing in the background?! There's a place for music, podcasts, radio and TV but don't leave them on in the background. It's distracting for your child and you're way less likely to talk when you're listening to background noise.

2. Follow their lead. Kids will stay longer at something they’re interested in. This means watching them as playing as they do. If they’re banging the blocks together then YOU bang blocks together. Adults tend to join in and want to show kids how to play with an activity but kids innately know how they want to play with something. Your child is always right when it comes to play, so do as they do.

3. Create predicable routines. Children prefer the safety of knowing what is coming next. Doing the same thing in a routine makes your little one more likely to attend for longer.

4. Add some WOW. What’s wow? It’s you making your face fun and showing a LOT of interest in the activity in order to spark theirs. e.g. if your child seems to be getting bored of a book, ramp up the fun: “Oh my goodness!! The hungry caterpillar looks like he’s getting huuuuuuuge!! I hope he doesn’t go pop.... let’s see”.

Remember - never force a child to stay at an activity or book theyre not into.
You’ve got this!

Watch the full reel here