• PLAY: In our fast-paced 21st century world, so many parents forget the benefit of unstructured play. Not team sports, nothing organized, just play. The benefits are enormous. Play enhances intellectual, emotional, creative and physical development. Kids learn best when having fun.
• BUILD CONFIDENCE AND SELF ESTEEM: Listen to your children, set boundaries, provide opportunities for them to succeed, let them work out their own problems, and teach them to think positively.
• MOTIVATE: A desire to learn puts a child on a path to actually learn. Children usually love school and discovering new things. If they don’t, find out why. Does the child need to repeat a grade to develop emotionally? Does he have a learning problem that needs to be addressed? You can’t teach a child who has shut his mind off. Don’t be afraid to ask the hard questions.
• MAKE MUSIC: A study out by researchers at the University of Toronto shows that music lessons can benefit a child’s IQ and enhance school performance. And the more the better. The longer a child takes music lessons, the better her chances for higher grades in high school and a higher IQ in adulthood.
• BREASTFEED: This one may be controversial, but Danish researchers say breast-feeding for at least nine months not only makes babies healthier, it can also lead to children who are significantly more intelligent than their peers who nursed for one month or less. You be the judge.
• EXERCISE: Get outside and get moving! Your kid doesn’t have to be involved in organized sports. Simply getting the muscles warmed up and the blood circulating can improve academic achievement among school-aged children. Numerous studies show that kids who get free time to exercise during the day actually do better in school.
• STRETCH THE MIND: Challenge your kids with brain-teasing activities like word puzzles, riddles, Sudoku, crosswords and chess.
• ENCOURAGE CURIOSITY: Teaching your children to explore and seek out answers tells them that knowledge is important.
• EAT BREAKFAST: Your mother was right! Eat your breakfast. Study after study, dating back to the 1970s, continues to show that fueling your body in the morning improves memory, concentration and learning.
• READ, READ, READ: If you want your child to appreciate the spoken and written word, then start reading to that baby and don’t stop! It’s a great way to bond with your child, improve her attention span and foster a love of language that will last a lifetime.
Karen Grinstead is a freelance writer with a “brilliant” child who did not read, crawl or walk early, but can tell you all about non-Newtonian fluids. Her writing has appeared a number of times in Parent Wise, as well as in newspapers in Charlotte, N.C. and on TV stations across the country. She lives with her family in Leander.
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