toddler attention span - what to expect

[sahm]

I'm just wondering what kind of attention span your toddler has.

I know it will be a very individual thing, but my 18 month old can't seem to focus on anything for more than 2 mins.

Even his night time book time has gotten difficult because he just doesn't want to sit still for even the shortest simplest story.

Is it just a matter of accepting and waiting for him to improve as he gets older or should I work with him to keep him focussed on one activity for a bit longer?

[lochiebearsmum]

My DS (20 months) has a great attention span for books and songs but when it comes to tv he hasnt watched more than a minute in his life!
I also worked in childcare for ten years and to get most 15 month to 2 year olds to sit still for longer than a minute was VERY hard work. at this age they just want to explore their environment and their interests change continually, i just immerse my son in whatever it is that interests him for that minute/ hour/day....
i would not stress give your little one another year and you will notice a big difference!!\

[~Emmylou~]

Sounds quite normal for that age.

I have two kids, my eldest (girl) would quite happily sit and listen to a full story at that age.

My son though (just turned two), you'd be flat out getting to page two before he's ripping out pages, eating them, feeding them to the cat or else taken off down the backyard.

He's a very intelligent little man, but so much more active than DD ever was.

They do get better as they get older, I wouldn't worry :)

[mim1]

My 21mo ds has a very variable attention span. If he's interested in something he can last 10 or 15 minutes at the task, but it's unusual. 2 minutes is pretty good for most things. I do persist with the bedtime book though, but make sure I involve him as much as possible with pointing to objects on the page, making animal noises to go with the story, etc.

My nephew is the same age and his attention span is 1 minute at best. He is constantly on the go all day! Much more so than my ds. It brings home the reality to me that all toddlers are different.

So, how do I cope? I have plenty of different toy areas for my ds to play in with different things in each area - books in one corner, teddies in another, a car to ride in between and a ball pit in the middle. He will quite happily go back and forth between all those areas during the day for probably 1/2 hour blocks as long as I'm close by. Sometimes if I'm very involved he might play for a couple of hours with his toys, but that's rare.

It is a challenge, but keeping things varied throughout the day helps ... and of course toddlers like to eat frequently so that breaks up the play making the 'old' new again too :)

[OJandMe]

The general rule for attention is basically the same as Time Out...

one minute per year of age.. (this works while they're little until they find things they're really interested in)

so 2mins is actually pretty normal for that age :)

Just keep him busy. Maybe do a song instead of a story, or just a short story.