Help with Dreaming 1St Grader

It really depends on why he is daydreaming. A few reasons...
Is he advance, gets his work done and then is bored... daydreaming to entertain himself?
Does he crave an outlit for his creative side?
Is he stressed and day dreaming is an escape?
Is he 6 years old with a fantastic imagination? Who would want to focus on mundane school- repetative assignments that are supposed to fit every learning style, when they could be fully involved in a facinating day dream...
Is there too much stimulation in the classroom and he can't focus?
1st grade classes have very busy walls that tend to be very over stimulating.
Maybe he has a lot on his mind. Ask him.

C.,

My son was going through something similar when we had trouble with him and his Kindergarten teacher (his birthday is in October). It turned out that she was not the right match for him as a teacher. Either what she talked about went right over his head or he was bored and would tune her out. We thought it was him being bad or restless. But, it was not a good match of teacher/student. It happens.

I would suggest asking yourself if he daydreams as much at home, tune you or your husband out, or anything like that. If not, then you may want to meet with the teacher to find out how she teaches and maybe think about trying to get in matched with a different teachers. They tend to teach differently, and now I make it a point to make sure that my son is matched up with the right teacher at this young age. As he gets older, it will get better. But we must make sure that they have the right teacher now to get them on the right road.

Hope this helped a little.

Hi C. -

Don't you feel like telling the teacher "Wow, you mean - he's acting like he's...Six???? Imagine that!!" :-)

I have a 6 and 7 year old, so I know all about what you're saying. If you are lucky enough to have a creative child, embrace that and allow that to grow! I just responded to another post about homework, and I truly feel that younger children (K, 1st, 2nd) are overworked between school work and homework and there is NO time to just daydream.

The chances to be creative are just non-existent and that is a shame. You child is being himself and there is probably NOTHING wrong with him, if anything he is probably a little less mature than the others in his class. Is he a "late" baby? Born in Oct, Nov, Dec? If he is younger than the rest of the kids in the class, he just might be a little behind maturity wise, and he will catch up, I'm sure.

My 6 year old has a similar issue, he talks too much and out of turn and not on the subjects they are discussing in class. But both my sons are SO incredibly creative and I embrace and encourage them to be that way. One like to write, and one has an imagination like George Lucas and to see that at such a young age just warms me!

Good luck and please keep us posted!!! :-)

My son is six and wow does this sound oh so familiar. Though we've tried several things, onething that We enjoyed doing (my husband ,myself, and my son) was role playing. We let my son pretend to be the parent or the teacher. He really enjoyed that. However, we'd giggle, or drift off, or doodle on our paper, look around or out the window...play with our pencil. he thought it was funny at first, but then he began to see how disrespectful it is to his teacher. We don't have that big of a problem with it at home, because I'm a pretty tough momma and i don't accept or tolerate much garbage from him, but teacher's can't always give the look that i give or the stern (face to face) talk that i give. They talk really sweet and give all kinds of warnings and then he gets nothing but a time out or a light change. (green yelllow system). keep trying but stay consistent!!

I have a son in the first grade also and his teacher tells me the same thing. I have taken my son to be evaluated by a psychologist. It took 5 sessions and this week the doctor will tell us what he thinks. If I were you I would ask the teacher if she thought he was acting as a normal 6 year old who would rather be anywhere other than school or if she thought there may be something else going on. I think the best thing is to follow your own instincts because you know your child bettr than anyone else.

My son is now in 2nd grade and at times he still has a hard time staying focused. Last year, I met with his teacher weekly and we discussed her teaching and came up with a few creative things to keep his attention.

At home, I would help by always asking him questions about his day and what he learned at school. I would go over things he didn't find so interesting by being creative and teaching him the same thing in a different way. He would have a lot of fun doing that and I told him that if he would pay attention in class we could just do more fun things like that. He was learning, but now it was fun to learn. So, he learned that it was rewarding to listen and learn from his teacher at school.

He knows it is disrespectful to not listen, but as a 5 or 6 year old he only has so much control. He must learn to develop great strategies and techniques and we as parents have the wonderful job of teaching him and helping him find the best ones that will work for him.

I think you are doing a great job with reminding him of how important it is to be respectful. I see that you are a writer, which means that you are creative as well. Just stay patient and stay involved. You will figure out the best thing for you to do and see improvements with your son soon enough.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!

How about working with the teacher and ask for daily reports on his behavior each day. See when he's not paying attention and look for any patterns. Is it at any specific time or day?You might try a reward system, for instance, if he does well paying attention in school for 3 or 4 days out of the week, then on friday, he gets to do something fun! Or because he's little, maybe if he has a good day, you do something that afternoon or evening. (something little, we all are so busy) maybe he gets to have his favorite dessert after dinner or watch his favorite tv show, read an extra book at night, etc. Make a chart at home so he can see how well he's doing at paying attention. Positive reinforcement does wonders. My sister has a 5 year old with similiar issues and that's what she's doing and it's working. Good luck!

The thing about public school is that it tends to take away the children's creativity. They have to fit in a box. He is probably bored in the classroom. Has he been tested to see where he is at on any type of IQ level? Also, he is a boy. It is difficult for boys to "sit" during a typical school day. I'm sure he is day dreaming about the things he could be doing.

Have you ever considered home schooling? This would allow your son to be creative, allow learning to be fun and interesting. Just a thought!!

It may not be your son's fault, but the teachers. Boys (in general) do not have as good as hearing as girls. He should be sitting up in the front of the class, his teacher should be talking in lower tones, and she should raise the volumne of her voice a lot. A lot of boys have a difficult time tuning in to female teachers because they speak in higher tones (harder for them to hear), and they speak softer (boys need loud noises). I would ask the teacher to try to make these changes and see if it helps.

Hi,

There is nothing wrong with your child. We all should day dream more. He is most likely bored. Children can't hide their real feelings as well as we learn to do as adults. We all have different personalities and most educators are reserved and task oriented and anything that is different from their own type of personality they tend to "label". I'm certified in human behavior studies and have conducted workshops for children, parents and educators. If I may suggest a couple of books to help you understand your child and yourself better:

1. Different Children, Different Needs by Boyd
2. A+ Ideas for Every Students Success by Rohm

Also, take a look at www.personality-insights.com your son can complete an online assessment, as well as you can right over the internet on this site. I have completed hundreds of these for adults and children, including my own children so that I may understand them better.

Good luck!