In case you missed this week's Dear Shant-"Elle" columns @milknheels.com

Hello A,

I truly feel for parents of this new generation. It seems that a lot of mature subject matter is being thrust upon children from multiple sources, and at all ages. But this isn’t new, every parenting generation has a story of a social issue that was at the forefront during their child-rearing years. Which is a very good thing, because it means, for the most part, we all turned out okay.

I always parented with this golden rule: I taught my girls from the time they were young that love is love. Regardless of gender, age, race or religion finding love with another person is one of the greatest gifts of life. Tell your kids that people love one another in all different shapes, sizes, colours and genders, and then leave it at that. They are after all only eight and five. It’s always super important to share information with our children that is age appropriate, and kids no matter their age have a cellular understanding of love. So, start here and progress as they age and the questions come in again.

Xo

Elle

Hello Distracted,

This is a tricky question to answer without knowing your son, his age, his diet, or his extracurricular schedule. In my experience with kids that I’ve raised, and others that I’ve known, there was often a direct co-relation to diet and the lack of outside stimulation the kids were getting to their inability to concentrate. Often taking sugar out of a young kid’s life can have a profound and positive outcome on their inability to focus. Exercise also helps kids to hone in on tasks better, they get rid of excess energy and find it easier to sit still and complete tasks when they’re getting enough physical activity in their day to day lives.

Something else that can help him to concentrate better at home is breaking up his “quiet/focused” time into bite size pieces. For example, if he gets thirty minutes of homework every day, why not break it into three sections of ten-minute tasks, and in between each have him do something physical to refocus him. If it seems deeper rooted than needing to let off extra steam and is becoming a problem in his day to day activities then I recommend taking him to a nutritionist, or allergist to have him tested for food sensitives that may be causing him to be “uncomfortable” in his skin and therefore creating his inability to focus.

Also keep in mind kids these days are more evolved and are much more capable of multi-tasking than we ever were. Not to mention, in my humble opinion, that the way schools sit them in rows upon rows of desks and talk at them from the front of the classroom isn’t making the lack of focus, that not only your son is struggling with, but many others are as well, any easier. It’s like they’re set up for disaster. I think the education system needs a complete overhaul, but that’s an entirely different conversation.

Good luck!

Xo

Elle