Staying on task

Hello,

We’ve been using TSG almost a year now, and have seen so much improvement to family relationships; thank you for what you do!

I’m finding as I give some of my children tasks 7 and 10year olds) that they’re getting off task and losing focus. I’ve tried setting timers and saying we’re going to check back in. Sometimes this immediately causes crying that they can’t get it done in time. I’ve explained it’s not a timer for necessarily getting it done, but that I’m just going to ask what they’ve done during that time and check progress. Sometimes that helps, sometimes they then cry through the chore. Alternatively, I set a 5-10 minute timer and come up to check and maybe one small thing is done. I believe at 7 and 10, I should be able to say, “here’s your laundry, please fold and put it away”. This is not a new skill. However, it seems unless I’m watching and constantly redirecting, they don’t stay on task to do it. I have a second 7 year old that’s able to complete this without a problem and without a timer at all.