How to help high-school students stay focused on your studies!

Since we were all once teenagers, I think we can all have a certain level of empathy for that stage in your life where everything was exciting and new, as well as incredibly daunting, overstimulating, and frustrating; all the while dealing with these emotions with a brain that is not fully developed to cope or sustain such high levels of adrenaline.

As a parent however, with the gift of hindsight to not only now know that we were all dramatic and overwhelmed as an adolescent; but understanding the importance of studying being critical to your final years in high school.

Burning question from this; how do we help our teenagers to stay focused on their studies?

To understand how to help, we first need to understand how the adolescent brain works. The teenage brain has not reached full development, and their decisions can be different than what is expected by adults. Teens can understand and interpret viewpoints that differ from their own, however, with the underdeveloped part of their brain being the prefrontal cortex; quite often firmly believe their own perception is the most true or valid. This is a common practice of adolescents, but it can be difficult for parents to deal with that behavior. This may manifest into the following ideologies that are somewhat lacking in proper education, examination, or research but have something different, unique or captivating about it that would likely entice a teenage brain into positively responding to it.This happens for a lot of reasons, however the two huge factors that pays a role are self-identity and our prefrontal cortex.

 Growing up as a child, most children will see their parents as their role models and agree or act like their examples until puberty.

Then they start being exposed to new ideas and ideologies from their peers (and their ideologies from their parents), role models or celebrities.

All of a sudden, they have all this new information and different concepts introduced to them; all the while being processed through a brain that hasn’t finished developing the part that helps you to inhibit impulses and to plan and organize your behaviour to reach a goal.

The prefrontal cortex.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC)—the most evolved brain region—subserves our highest-order cognitive abilities. However, it is also the brain region that is most sensitive to the detrimental effects of stress exposure.

The part of the brain that is key to reasoning, problem solving, comprehension, impulse-control, creativity and perseverance is the prefrontal cortex.

To put it simply, there is a reason we all thought the world was going to end when we forgot it was non uniform day and showed up in our shirt and tie.

Or how it felt like someone had ripped our hearts out when our favourite character died in our most beloved show.

It was literally because we did feel more intense feelings of ecstasy, pain and anguish.

With this information, it is now more understandable why focusing on important aspects like studying can sometimes take a back seat in a teenage brain; which brings me onto the first; and one of the most important tips to encourage focus and help with their studies;

Empathy.

Although it can be frustrating, using a anger, threats or punishment is a lot less beneficial than you would think.

Rebellion is a huge part of the reaction of a teenage brain, and not understanding what their distraction is they are battling with (however insignificant it may seem to you) will create a huge communication barrier of the point you are trying to make.

Instead of venting your frustration at finding your teenager binge watching their new show with their science book open; sit down and ask them what’s on their mind and if they want to talk about it.

If they are really engrossed with the episode, ask them about it and become interested in why they are so focused.

Once you have established an empathetic boundary, you will then most likely discover that they are often to suggestions or concerns of their study and can compromise that they can continue that show and discuss it, after they have completed that theory in their biology textbook they are struggling with.

Eliminate distractions.

Once, the empathy part has been established and there is a seize fire of objectives, the next idea you can do is to help them eliminate distractions.

Social media takes a huge chunk of a teens day, with an average of five hours!

Each short video, has been designed specifically to produce an algorithm that is short enough to keep attention span of a young person, with the right angle to intrigue them to want to know more.

It is extremely addictive and can be hard to monitor regularly, when you are adding procrastination and stress to the mixing pot.

Suggest putting a limit on the apps, and turning off the tv; if they need a study break; having a ten minute timer on them so they can feel more in control of their time management and aren’t becoming stressed with overstimulation.