I found the following question

my 11yr old son is a good kids but are major problem with him not staying on task.

he has his chores around the house but simple small chours like feeding the animals can turn into huge hassels because he can't stay

on task and just get it done! five minute jobs turn into hour jobs, dishes can turn into a three hour job you have to follow him around for the whole job and constantly remind him to stay on the job until its done, when you have a five year old at home too you can't do this all the time but even staying with him can make things worse cause he still goes off task to stop and chat with you instead and your forced to follow around for half hour or so keep saying your job your job your job until its done...

they have the same problems at school ive heard for years now quite a bright intellegent child but lets himself down because wont stay on task and finish the work...

it gets so frustrating as in the end his jobs of dishes, taking out rubbish, feeding animals tidying his bedroom start when gets home from school and aren't all finished when he goes to bed at 8:30pm at night so starts all again the next day and its frustrating cause i feel so bad that his whole time home from school is doing jobs... we have tried the rewards systems the punishment systems but nothing is working...

its hard cause he says he is nothing but naughty but we say not naughty the only thing getting in trouble for is not doing jobs and if you just got in and done them they been all done in hour and you will be off having fun but nope dont work...

im worried because he only has another year and off to high school and i cant see him doing well if can't stay on task!

any advice on how to get a child to stay on task???

My middle son had the same problem,

Always in trouble at home always in trouble at school, never able to complete anything, nicest kid but totally uncontrollable, counselling didn't work, punishing didn't work, changing schools didn't work, private school didn't work, no matter what you asked him to do no matter how small the task it would take hours and hours, and it never got fixed but at age 15 he started to grow out of this behaviour, in fact so much so that now at age 20 he has completed a full aprenticeship and is more responsible than his older brother, this is after he left school at 14 because simply no school could teach him and that was the best thing for him, but nothing could be done with him at school or at home for several years, however what you are describing also describes adhd attention deficit disorder, have you discussed this with a doctor, had him tested it might be an idea to do that anyway, although it's the latest catch phrase as far as I am concerned for any child that does not follow the norm, I have found that some children respond to the medications prescribed quiet well, having fostered several children with problems as well, however also look at your home environment, are you paying a lot of attention to your five year old and only attention to him when he is not doing as he is told?

Sometimes there are other ways to get attention and to a child that feels he or she is not getting enough attention while the younger child is getting plenty of attention, making you take notice and talk to him or her even if it's for the wrong reasons can be gratifying and quench his or her attention seeking thirst, that doesn't mean that they are being naughty conciously, but subconciously every time you give him that attenetion when you re check wether he is doing what he said he is winning by getting your attention away from his younger sibling, may be you should just try and give him a job and then not checking on him every five seconds, simply ignore that it is not being done, do it your self or let his room become a filthy mess, when he runs out of clean clothes because he hasn't put them in the washing basket and complains just shrug your shoulders, hand him a dirty dish or cup to use without saying anything when he hasn't done the dishes, if he says something simply say sorry but I haven't had time to wash the dishes, if he starts aguing walk awy don't gratify his need for attention, try it for a month you might find a changed child, you also may not as I said nothing worked with one of my sons, but the method above has worked with other Children that I have been involved with.