Q. How to train 7 y/o to be less careless?

Haha… well when I was young, I am one of the careless guys in schools too. Competition and educational demand was obviously the reason why, as we want to learn more and faster than others or simply being uniquely best in our studies. One of the solutions I tried to reduce carelessness is to teach myself the value of patience and awareness. In Singapore, unfortunately, this is a growing trend due to the nature upbringing of young Singaporeans nationally as a competitive society, with patience being something rare in each day of our lives. The competitive culture in our society promotes growth to be the first in knowledge, technology and social excellence; however it creates certain carelessness in attitude, sometimes ignorance/selfishness in their actions and also excessive rivalry/discrimination between social circles, which really is negative part of the culture. Lack of courtesy, increasing stress, and declining moral ethical values are some increasing concerns among younger generation facing today, which as Singaporeans we always tend to overlook today.

Hence, we need to teach children the balance of life. Teach them the moral values of wisdom in both mind and the soul, including the virtue of patience. Believe me; it helps to reduce the careless mistakes especially when I am in university, when stress and demand seems to overload me. I find salat (prayers) as a spiritual balance in a Muslim life; it puts the mind in a state of calm and deep reflection, which prevents our life from being too self-righteous or obsessed with our own worldly desires. But of course, how can we instill in the Muslim children, when many (like my Muslims colleagues) do not understand what they are fumbling with their mouths in their prayers in the first place? (Pardon me with the harshness…)

im no child expert, but i remember i was like that when i was young. no matter what my mum did, i just wasn't able to be less careless in my maths or other subjects.

However when i was 9 y/o onwards..i had a baby brother and was helping out mum with caring and organising the home etc...through those responsibility i quickly learned to be responsible. That helped me to mature quite a fair bit, since i don't have my mummy checking up on me all the time or giving me alot of attention. My mum treated me like a person who can be depended on and who knows what i am doing. Although i have to say, i was still careless in my maths and other subjects probably bcoz my parents are always on my case when it comes to my grades in school. ( my mum was still teaching me in primary school or putting me through tuition)

I only started excelling in school in my secondary school days. That was because my parents left me on my own devises to learn on my own and they stopped asking me abt my homework. <phew>

i know it's hard to stop asking your kids about their homework or to push them to do better in school. The best thing i can think of is to keep reminding them how smart they are, but they need to double check their work. And if they do forget to double check their work. ( which they will since they are kids),don;t make a big deal out of it. My mum use to do that to me...and i just hated myself each time i forget to double check my work. I slowly grew to think tht i may after all be stupid. And it grew into a vicious cycle.

Try to be calm and suppportive coz i know that they are trying their best. All kids wants to be acknowledge by their parents. inshallah through repeted reminding and your positive excouragements they will soon learn to do so, even if it might take years.

My eldest son is already in P6, and he is still losing things every so often. Almost every morning before school he will be searching around the house for misplaced items.
We constantly reminded, scolded and sometimes threatened him. There is some progress, but painfully slow.

Though careless in his school work, he is still among the top 10% at school. That , at least is a consolation.

I guess we have to constantly remind ourselves to be calm, not forgetting that they are not doing it on purpose.

Observing his grandfather, often looking around the house for his misplaced keys, we know where he got the trait from.

OK that sounds scary. haha. I guess most boys are like that . :P cos my boy is also like that. can faint*

With close monitoring and supervision and lots OF PATIENCE, I think ur child will improve. BE PATIENT. :)