See it all the time in places like Monument, Palmer Lake, Quail, 11 Mile and more. When the fish aren't biting the children get bored and tend to find other things to do and not attend their lines. When I ask parents about this, they always have some lame excuse about keeping the extra lines in the water “in case" they get a bite for the kids. If that's the plan… your kid is bored and it's time to try something different. Children like to be active; they do not understand the concept of relaxing and just enjoying the day when they're between 4 and 18, 19, 20… years old. Their minds are racing and the concept of just sitting and waiting is not normally a child's cup of tea.
Instead of bait, teach them to use some very basic lures that are highly effective and will help keep their interest. The idea here is that they are constantly engaged. With a lure they have to cast and retrieve on a repetitive basis. There is a number of reasons this is good for both you and the child. If you do this correctly and make this about the kid and not you, you will be just as engaged as you teach the next Kevin VanDam. With casting it requires constant movement and certainly requires a little skill and technique. This is where you come in! You can help them learn how to cast accurately and also show them how to work the lure and why it's effective. You can teach them to read the water and what to look for. Get the idea?
But what is a good way to start on this? Here are some recommendations. Depending on age and how much they've already fished, start them with very basic gear. A light or medium light spinning rod, spincast rod or even an underspin which in my opinion is probably the easiest to use. Use light monofilament line between the 4 and 6 lb range. Lures? There are some things that should be in every tackle box. Some sort of spinner like Jerry's Fly's, Jeff's Flies, Mepps or Johnson Min-o-spin. Next a 1.5" pink tube jig with 1/8 oz jighead and then of course an assortment 1/8 to 1/4 oz KastMasters. Maybe even some Dynamic HD's or something similar. Why These? Because they are all highly effective, easy to use and yet as skill increases different techniques can be applied to them. All of these lures can be used at the most basic level. Cannot tell you how many times I've used the pink tube jig and what the fish were looking for was to let it hit the bottom and then very slowly do a straight retrieve off the bottom. All the rest can simply be cast and reeled in. Again, the premise here is to have the kids active and engaged instead of just sitting and waiting.