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Children Boy who is not interested in studies I am a kindergarten teacher. I have a 5-year-old kid who is not interested in books. He shows a little improvement if he is pushed to do the work (be it reading or writing). He is not active and would just sit down waiting for instructions. He is not a slow learner child.

The parents are in the hawker business and leave the daily care of the child in the hands of the babysitter. They only take him back for a few hours on Sundays. I have talked to the babysitter on how to plan a timetable for him. She says Yes but I don't think she is doing anything. How can I help him to do better?

Answer

Answered by Woo The child's behaviour may be due to a few reasons: 1) a different learning style, 2) a habit not cultivated by his environment 3) personality.

Getting the babysitter to assist is a good thing, but we cannot expect too much of him/her as he/she is not the parent of the child. We need to ascertain the purpose of why you want the child to be reading a book. Would there be other possible ways for the child to learn the information besides using a book?

Learning information can be done using other ways such as from outdoor activities, computer or educational documentaries. If other ways are not possible, you can also start by finding out what interests the child and start exposing him to books that have things that he is interested in.

Some children need to know how the information may be useful to them in order for them to learn it. You may need to be a bit creative with the child to get his attention and interest. There are many ways of teaching the child depending on the objective of the activity.

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Midwife Ann Ibrahim

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Psychologist Woo Pei Jun

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Dr Ng was a lecturer at Universiti Malaya. He is currently a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at private clinic. His sub-speciality is infertilty.
Consultant Paediatrician Dr. Yong Junina

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