It has long been known that raising children is considered one of the most difficult tasks in the world, but there is no universally accepted training course for successful parents or universal practices for parents. However, there is good news in this regard: there are many simple ways to stimulate a child’s brain development, along with using everyday activities as learning opportunities.
Carlota Nelson, director of the documentary Brain Matters, shares five simple, effective, and science-based tips to help prepare your child for a successful life.
Support and encourage your baby’s babbling and treat it like a real conversation
The sounds babies make and their gestures don’t always seem that important, but it’s their only form of communication. Experts in early childhood development say that we should support and encourage children’s talk and treat it as a real conversation. Parents must respond to the sounds, signals and actions of the child, and interact with him throughout the day. The words that a child hears from an adult before he reaches the age of two, and mainly their number, will determine the volume of his vocabulary at this age, and will later affect the development of his reading skills. Take your baby’s babbling seriously and encourage it.
Read to the child in order to develop his language
Young children may not yet have learned to speak or read, but they are actually ready to learn from birth. Already at the age of three months, they can distinguish every sound used in the world’s languages. Every time you read aloud to your child, you are developing their language and language skills. While reading, show the pictures in the book and ask questions about the story and its characters. Simple questions like “what are they wearing?” and “how many?” will help the development of the child’s language and language skills. Reading to young children will not only help them learn new words and remember them, but also instill a love of reading books. Remember, leaders become those who at one time read a lot and are still reading, so why not start this process as early as possible?
Find educational moments in everyday activities
For young children, any of the everyday actions by adults is learning. Whether it’s bathing, sorting laundry, cooking, or running errands, these activities are all great learning opportunities. While performing certain actions, say out loud what you are doing to activate the child’s language activity. Count and sort laundry to teach math, play with food ingredients, and learn aloud the structure and consistency of different objects to develop scientific thinking. Grimacing, which shows different emotions, is a great way to develop the ability to understand emotions in children.
Take the game seriously
Young children are constantly learning. By playing, they acquire vital skills. Playing different characters allows them to imagine themselves as someone else and learn to understand the feelings of others. When they play with other people, they learn to compromise and perform any action while maintaining order. Participating in imaginary free play, for example, imagining that a toy train can travel in outer space, awakens creativity in children over time and activates language activity. During such games, young children learn to express their ideas and thoughts verbally. When young children imagine new imaginary worlds, they learn to solve problems and find new possibilities. What seems like simple fun is actually an important action. Take the game seriously, because the game is an important learning process. Try to use any gadget in front of your child as little as possible. Research shows that in this case, children think they are being treated with disdain.
Give a personal example
Small children are brilliant parodists. They visually pick up everything you do. By the time they begin to speak, they become experts at reading information from facial expressions and identifying non-verbal relationships, and learn to repeat movements or emotions. By observing your gestures, how you treat others, or how you react to different situations and problems, young children remember this and in time can begin to use similar attitudes, reactions and actions in their lives. Your behavior and attitude will shape your child’s personality.
By putting these five important tips above into practice in your daily life, you will greatly increase your child’s chances of future prosperity. Providing your child with the best tools for a successful future has nothing to do with finances or expensive educational resources. It depends on you, your time and the level of your participation
