At what age should a child be able to sit still for 1 hour?

Question

it would be a church service then how long should a child be expected to sit still for at age 7?

Answer 1

my sister is 12 and getting 20 minutes out of her is a HUGE challenge (she does not have any diagnosed 'problems' that would prevent her from sitting still)

Answer 2

At age seven you should be able to to get 30 minutes to an hour.  Of course every kid is different.  Make sure he burns off excess energy before the church service and then see if you can find some quiet activity to help occupey him. (drawing) I always keep my secret stash of gum and mints.  It will buy you a good 20 minutes.

Answer 3

that would be fine but don't expect him to to sit and listen you will have to bring paper and crayons  

Answer 4

I think it may depend on what you mean by sitting still.  If you are referring to sitting still in a school setting then most children should be able to sit and pay attention for an hour by the time they are in later elementary school.  Preschoolers and early elementary ages are notoriously active with short attention spans.  Some younger children may be able to sit for an hour or more and watch a favorite show on TV or a movie.  If it's sitting still and doing nothing, I don't even know many adults who can do that.  What are the circumstances you are thinking about and what age is the child?

Answer 5

Depends on the 7 yr old. Average is probably about 20 minutes. However, if it's for church you can bring paper and something to color with and lengthen the time to closer to an hour.  

Answer 6

About 17, I'd say.  

I'm not kidding...  unless you're asking the child to sit through a church service or a funeral or something unusual like that, it's not easy for the developing human being to sit still for an hour, especially if there are distractions (either real or imagined).