7 year old lacks concentration, always tired. advice on vitamins needed .............

fad1211

I have a seven year old boy, who has got his SATs at the end of this academic year. He is doing quite poorly in school, and reports have always been below average. He lacks concentration, never seems interested, and just finds the work too hard. To add to his daily pressure, he attends mosque daily from 5 - 7pm, so has very little time in the evening for play. We try to fit homework in between 8 - 9pm, and he goes to bed by 9pm. I know this is late, but his daily routine is such that it is impossible for him to be in bed before 9pm.

I do put my time and effort to assist him with his homework, and spend a few hours in the weekend going through maths and english, but I might as well be teaching a brick wall. I realise play is important and we do take him out to wherever he wishes to go in the weekend.

Does anyone know any vitamin supplements for children that I can give him, to help with energy levels and concentration levels. Is there anything else I can do to help him?? Any advice will be grealy appreciated. Thanks.

mr_fishbulb

Do you know about his school life, is he being bullied?

Are you able to get him a tutor?

piptiddlepip

Fish oil would help. But it sounds as if he is tired.

dora37

Could he not do homework when he comes home from school? That way time after the Mosque could be calm, play time with Mum/Dad - rather than 'boring school work' - it would be more of a special time.

If he did his homework before the Mosque, then he could also go to bed earlier - my 12 year old goes to bed a 8.45 and reads for a while, however had he gone to bed at that time when he was 7, he would really have struggled during his school day.

Your son has a long day with school all day and then 2 hours at the Mosque -perhaps it is just some extra sleep he needs rather than vitamins.

Maybe a little re jig of the timetable might do the trick.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

If he's learning things at the mosque, rather than playing games/socialising for two hours, with school and homework he's learning for a total of something like 9 hours a day. No wonder he's tired.

gooismeid

a 7 year old needs 11-12 hours of sleep - so if he's not going to bed before 9pm, that means he should be getting up at 8-9am (impossible if he's going to school, of course!). What happens between finishing school at 3.45 and when he goes to the mosque at 5? Could he do his homework then with someone? I really think that he's just tired. So you're going to have to reschedule something. Does he have to spend 2 hours at the mosque every evening? That's a long day for anyone, let alone a 7 year old.

patchwork_cat

I agree with the previous poster he does seem to have a very busy day- vitamins may help, but I feel that he just needs more time to relax.

A lot of children of his age do go to bed at 9, but my children would have needed 1 hr to 1 1/2 more than this.

Do his friends go to Mosque for 2 hours every night too?Is there any way he could re organise his day/week.

It is a very difficult situation for you.

aliasojo

Sounds like the wee soul is a little overloaded.

I think this type of routine every day for a 7 year old is just too much and it's obvious that he is not coping well with it.

To be honest, I don't think vitamins are the answer.

My daughter is 6 and her concentration span is not very good. We give her Eye Q fish oil supplements and I do see a difference in her since she has been taking them.

However she needs to rest and sleep well (even if she thinks she's not tired) otherwise she will perform badly at school. I echo the thoughts above about homework timing. I think 8-9pm at night is far too late to expect a little brain to still be able to absorb information and learn, when it should really be winding down and asleep by then. If your son is doing poorly in school at this age, you NEED to change things to give him the best possible chance to improve before things get worse.

Might be worth considering a check up with your GP just to rule out any physical cause for the tiredness?

It's never easy juggling things is it? :undecided

andycarmi

Hi, I work in a school and we use Brain Gym. Have you heard of this?

Brain Gym gives benefits such as:

academic skills – for example, reading, writing, spelling and maths

memory, concentration and focus

physical co-ordination and balance

communication skills and language development

self-development and personal stress management

the achievement of goals, both professional and personal

It works by Educational Kinesiology. Its simple exersices that your son can do to help himself. Ask at your School if they use brain gym, or a teacher that been on A Brain gym course as it very popular in schools.

Here is the uk website.
https://www.braingym.org.uk

Also sounds like he needs a down time and bed earlier if poss.

black-saturn

I cant recommend enough Omega 3 fish oil. My DD1 has problems concentrating and I started giver her this about 3 years ago and her teachers cant believe the improvement. There are people selling it on ebay quite cheap or you can buy a tub of 30 500mg tablets in Poundland or the syrup if they cant swallow tablets from Boots is £3.99 for a bottle which lasts about 2 weeks.

apples1

I would really recommend Eye Q fish oil supplement which contains Omega 6 as well as Omega 3. It comes in liquid, capsules and even Eye Q Smooth which is like a yogurt in a sachet! You can buy it in Boots (look out for 3 for 2 offers and stock up!)

I also agree with the lack of sleep being a major factor and the lack of relaxing/me/play time.

A big fan of brain gym too but lack of sleep will over power even the best self help strategies in my opinion.

Why not have a chat with the school to see what they suggest and come up with a paln between you?

Good luck