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Preschoolers aren’t always the greatest at following directions or listening, it isn’t one of their favourite things to do at this stage. It is important to teach them to listen to you though because tuning you and others out will become a habit. Subscribe to Type-A Mom articles

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Here are some ways to get your preschooler to listen.

• Don’t yell from another part of the house. Get your child to listen by walking up to him, touching his arm and addressing him by his name. Don’t talk to him until he makes eye contact.

• Keep demands short. When you tell your child a long list of demands they will eventually tune you out. Keep the demand sentences nice and short. Give your child only two or three things at a time to do. (“Get your shoes and put on your hat.”)

• Don’t yell. Yelling makes your child focus more on your anger instead of what you’re saying. Your child will pay attention better if you speak in a soft voice.

• Take advantage of using your body language. Make your request drive home better by using a gesture. Like pointing when you want them to get to bed. A good idea would be to create a secret signal for your child when you are out so when you really want him to listen he will. (Something like pulling your ear.)

• Make sure you create a consequence. State what you need them to do only once or twice and then follow up with the consequence. This will teach them to listen the first time.

• Listen to your child. If you listen to your child when they talk to you they will be more likely to listen to you.

• Give him a break sometimes. Sometimes you need to let them be interested in what they were doing. Try not to talk to him when he has interest on something else.

It’s not just because they are preschoolers, here are other reasons why they may be ignoring you.

• They are tired. Preschoolers need a minimum of 11 hours of sleep to help them be focused.

• They are hungry. If they aren’t eating and are hungry they can lose focus. Make sure your child eats every three to four hours.
• Too much caffeine. This can be found in pop, chocolate and tea. It makes them not be able to concentrate.

• They need to go to the bathroom. Remind your child every so often to go to the bathroom. If you have a full bladder it’s hard to listen.

• They aren’t feeling well. If your child is sick with lots of sniffing and sneezing they won’t be focused. Wait until they feel better.