School is designed to be a place of learning and getting knowledge but many times, kids hate it and don’t like being there. If you are one of the many parents that are dealing with a 5-year-old not listening at school, it can result from multiple reasons.
As we all know, school can sometimes get boring, annoying, and even frustrating. Now imagine all these things happening but to a 5-year-old. It can be a problem that can last a long time so fixing this issue early on is important.
The reason you want to fix this as soon as you notice or hear from the teacher is because when kids are not listening at that age, they will continue to try to take advantage of the freedom they have.
It is our job to make sure they are listening to instructions and paying attention so in the long run, they are not causing trouble as they go through the school system.
Another reason why it is important to make sure your 5-year-old listens at school is because at that age, they are learning many key skills. Things like writing or counting numbers. Many more things are being taught and are the foundation for their education so If your 5-year-old is not listening and taking in information at school, they can fall behind academically.
Why your 5-year-old is not Listening at School
There are multiple reasons why your 5-year-old might not be listening at school. It can stem from things like being bored, disciplinary issues, or simply from not caring enough.
Before we get started, we need to mention the fact that there are 2 different meanings when someone says the child is not listening in school. One way can be that they are unintentionally not listening and the other way can be that they are doing it on purpose.
It is important to understand why the child is not listening because each problem has its own solution. If the parents and teachers are not on board with detecting the reason, this situation will never get better.
With that being said, here are some reasons why a 5-year-old might not be listening at school.
1. Uninterested
Many times, young children will not listen in school because they are not interested in what they are learning. They would rather be doing something else like play with their toys or outside on the playground.
Whenever someone is not interested in a topic or the thing they are working on, their minds tend to wander off and they lose focus. This is exactly what is happening to the 5-year-old in this situation.
They are physically there but their mind is in a whole other place which isn’t a bad thing because it happens to many people that are young and old. This is common for many 5-year-olds that don’t listen but it can be a quick fix if the teacher can find ways to make the topic more interesting.
It all comes down to being interested because no matter how easy or difficult something might seem, if someone is interested, they will listen to whatever is going on.
If the child is not listening in school for that reason, the teacher should then try and find a way to make whatever the topic is more interesting.
If that requires different activities or a different way of teaching then it should be done because at the end of the day, the job of the teacher is to make sure whatever is being taught is learned.
2. Being Disrespectful
Another reason why 5-year-olds don’t listen in school is because they intentionally don’t want to. They don’t listen to the teacher’s instructions and start becoming disrespectful.
This is very common for 5-year-olds because at that age, they are still learning about character counts (Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship).
Many 5-year-olds are still getting the concept of the 7 seven pillars so when they are lacking in the section of respect, they will most likely not listen in school if they don’t want to.
When this occasion arises that the 5-year-old is not listening and being disrespectful, the teacher should immediately discipline them.
The reason for this is because the 5-year-old needs to understand that what they are doing is wrong. It takes a lot of effort to listen and pay attention in class so if the child is not at least trying and following instructions, the child should be disciplined.
There is a reason why many kids act out in school but not at home. Almost all 5-year-olds listen to their parents because they know if they don’t, they will be disciplined. But when it comes to teachers at school, the 5-year-old might not be as fearful so they tend to act up and test their limits on how far they can take it.
They feel like they can take advantage of the situation and not listen to the teacher. Since this tends to happen alot, teachers need to have the same control over the kids like the parents do.
This is why teachers need to implement disciplinary actions towards the kids when they intentionally don’t listen because this will help the situation.
When kids are disciplined, they will start to become fearful of not listening and will then start to act right in class.
A very important factor to remember is that even though teachers should have authority over the students, they should know not abuse their power. Many times teachers try to abuse their power and it is bad for the development of the child.
Make sure that the teacher of the 5-year-old does have control of them but not too much where they take it too far.
3. The Topic Might be Too Hard
Another big reason why they might not be listening in class is because the topic they are doing or the subject they are learning might be too hard. Many times, students of all ages deal with this problem and it understandable. School is not easy and there will be times where even the smartest students struggle.
When they are faced with this situation, their mind starts wandering around and they lose focus in class. Just like how we discussed earlier that uninterest in something can lead to a wandering mind, this can also happen if something is too hard.
This situation can be hard to spot because many times, students don’t speak up when they are struggling to understand something and will tend to not say anything until it is noticed.
Teachers should try to identify struggling students from the early stages because as this situation prolongs, it can be hard to fix once the child has fallen way too behind in the curriculum they are supposed to learn.
If this is the situation, the best thing to do is to find a way the lesson or activity they are struggling in can be taught in an easier way. This requires a lot of work from the teacher to try to modify the lesson but it can be done with some effort.
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Communication Between Teachers and Parents
An important factor to remember when dealing with an issue like this is that the communication between teachers and parents needs to be strong.
Since the child is at school for half the day, it is the responsibility of the parents and teacher to communicate with each other regarding the status of how the 5-year-old is doing.
If you are a parent that has a 5-year-old that is not listening in class for whatever reason, you should be working hard with the teacher to fix this problem so it does not prolong and get worse over time.
The student depends on both the parent and teacher so it is both their jobs to make sure the 5-year-old is on track for success.
Final Thought
Many parents struggle with having to deal with their children not listening in school. This problem is common for younger kids and it can be caused by many different reasons so finding out why your 5-year-old is not listening in class is important.
Parents and teachers need to communicate with each other to make sure that the child is on track and not falling behind through this whole process.
It may seem like a big problem at first but with some effort and patience, this issue can be fixed. Click here for more information about how to get your children to listen more overall, not just in school.