"Getting Kids To Pay Attention"

Birthday parties are pretty exciting if you are 5...think about it.

"I'm gonna have a party you can come Johnny and you can come Sally and you can't Austin, because you pushed me down!" ahhhhhhh

So, when kids arrive it's huge, super bowl huge times ten. You'll get shy kids, you'll get excited kids and everything in between. I've been to thousands of birthday parties, yes thousands, around five thousand in my life, so I'm as familiar as is possible.

I have so many "tricks" up my sleeve to control situations at this point, it's almost difficult to share, they come second nature. They come so easily to me, they just seem obvious, I have a hard time understanding how everyone doesn't understand. But, if you've done anything five thousand times, you probably have mastered it.

Here are a couple of very simple things to think about. Children can only understand one command at a time.

This is simply a developmental step for children. If you tell a child, put away your shoes, brush your hair, bring me your lunch box. The child will disappear and you'll find them playing Barbie in their room. To about the age of six, they just haven't developed the ability to organize so many items at once. Put this into the front of your brain, you will become a much more successful children's entertainer.

BUT, children can layer. Think of the songs Old McDonald or There's a hole in the bottom of the sea. Old McDonald with a chick chick here and a chick there, an oink oink here an oink there. Or there's a hair on the wart on the frog on the bump on the log in the bottom of the sea etc.

So, knowing how children layer, you can almost always get their attention. I have to throw in almost but keep a good sense of humor!

in the market where I work (San Francisco Bay Area), I do a majority of first birthday parties. These are my niche because, for me, they are essentially small stage shows. I often have forty children, 100 plus adults. I do a show that entertains on both levels so this is an area where I work a lot. My specialty.

With this many kids in a park and rec hall, it can be mayhem. Children running and sliding on the wood floors. If I want the kids to start the show, I approach 2 or 3 little curious ones, they either come to me or I go to the willing ones. I tell them I have a secret, (I'm whispering) come closer, come closer, (look shocked) oops your too close, back up back up...no come closer come closer, no too close...they start laughing and will follow me to help me set up. If I have 3 following me, there are bunches checking me out from all across the room. I can say to two sitting over there, come on over, they will, very easily, just with a simple invite... etc etc etc. Pretty soon I have all them kids with me. I can do the same come closer back up thing with the whole group as a simple warm up too. Bam I have all their attention and the adults for that matter.

I've layered it. Come here, go back stand up sit down. Just my variation on Simon Says. Simple funny commands.

I've done my show, I've given away millions of balloon animals, the kids are running around beating each other with balloon poodles. I gather them up for the cake cutting/singing. I stand on a chair and say "all the kids come over here!" bam they follow me like rats to the pied piper. They are completely trained to arrive to my command. They hear my voice through a noisy room. Don't be afraid to use your power.

I can reward the kids with more craziness if the cake is not ready (which more times than not, someone can't find candles or matches, so I cover for them as they find these things)...Everyone come over here...no too far from the cake...over here etc. Or closer closer closer, OR, let's take a picture...(right before the cake is great group picture taking time). I can lead them anywhere at this point, so I get them to the cake or in their chairs, pretty easily.

If the cake is all set, I can simply do the same announcement, lead the kids over to their chairs or around the cake, pose for pictures.

You have an awful lot of power at a party as a children's entertainer. I try to use the power to take care of my clients, that's my big objective. I use this power to focus the kids and have the children laugh for an hour, giving huge relief to wary parents and grandparents. I can also use my power to herd the kids.

But broken down, my power comes from knowing how kids focus. Simple layering of instructions.