The responsibility of any parent is to ensure that their child has the room and support to grow in a way that’s safe, and healthy, and prepares them for life ahead. One of the most important aspects of that growth is ensuring that their brain develops. Especially as you’re looking at the prospects of preparing them for school, what can you do to ensure that your child is keeping up intellectually?
Ensure Good Nutrition For Brain Health
Healthy development starts with what your child eats. There’s no excuse not to feed them right. Aside from feeding them healthy meals at appropriate times of the day to manage their energy levels and ensuring that they get breakfast, there are foods for brain development that you can encourage them to eat more as well. This can include things like fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, nuts and berries with antioxidants, and leafy greens with the vitamins they need for their development. Excess sugar and processed foods diminish brain health so avoid those, too.
Take Play Seriously
Playing with your child is a great way to ease some stress and spend time building a bond with them. However, play can also be important for their early childhood development, as well. Parents should learn that there are different kinds and examples of play that can help their child build skills and an understanding of the world around them. This can include sharing and collaborative play using toys, physical play that sees them running and jumping around, and playing pretend which can help them not only build their curiosity and creativity but can also improve their ability for abstract thought. Try to ensure your child has a rich and balanced diet when it comes to how they play.
Encourage Physical Activity
The kind of play as mentioned above is just one way that you should encourage your child to become more physically active as they grow up. Movement is good not just for the body but for the brain, as well, helping to improve circulation and oxygenation of the brain. Reinforcing the importance of running, jumping, and dancing also helps them build the motor skills and coordination that can help them better take on tasks like writing and working with their hands in a school environment. Finding fun structured activities such as gymnastics or martial arts can also help your child build focus and discipline.
Get Reading With Them
The sooner that you can start to expose your child to books and the habit of reading, the better it tends to be with them. For one, few things are better at stimulating their imagination and out-of-the-box thinking skills than reading. Of course, there are all of the benefits of developing their language skills, their vocabulary, and their ability to comprehend the world through reading, as well. Read stories with them, initially, asking open-ended questions to help them better understand and recall what they heard. Start introducing books that they can read as well to get a head start on their reading skills.
Get Them Started Early
Nowadays, preschool is considered a necessary prerequisite to a life of education, but for any parents who aren’t sold on it yet, it’s important to think of it as more than just help with childcare. Choosing the right daycare and then the right preschool for your children helps them acclimate to spending a lot of time in environments outside of the home, with new authority figures, as well as being around their peers. It can begin to teach them some structure and routine in their life. Children who don’t have the experience of going to preschool are a lot more likely to face problems when in that new environment.
Create A Naturally Stimulating Home Environment
Often, children can work and play in ways that can foster healthy brain development if you simply let them get to it. As well as structured activities to help improve their cognitive skills, you should provide a rich and engaging environment at home for them to explore at their leisure. Make sure that toys such as building blocks, puzzles, and art supplies are available for them to play with as their curiosity demands. Expose them to interesting and stimulating environments outside of the home, as well, such as museums, nature parts, and the like.
Foster Social Interactions For Them
When it comes to preparing your child for school life, few things help as much as getting them used to being around other people. Getting them to better interact with both peers and adults helps them build not just their communication skills, but also their ability to regulate their emotions, as well. Find parents in your area to set up playdates with, get them involved in group activities, and host family and friend gatherings more often to give your child the opportunity and practice they need to navigate social situations and dynamics. They can begin to learn to collaborate, cooperate, share, and even empathize naturally this way.
Be Mindful Of Screentime
The vast majority of adults living in developed countries at this point have heard some manner of warning about how spending too much time with technology can “rot their brain.” It’s been said about film and TV, video games, the internet, and more. While we might not that’s not necessarily the case, the ubiquity and child-friendliness of modern digital technology does make it easy for kids to spend hours on end watching kids’ channels on YouTube, playing games, and otherwise engaging fully with their screen. Excessive screen time can hinder brain development by reducing opportunities for active play and social interaction. Setting boundaries around device usage and encouraging educational content ensures children use technology responsibly.
School is, naturally, going to do a lot of the work in developing your child’s brain. It’s what it’s there for. However, by better preparing them for school and fostering further development at home, you can make sure that they’re able to make the best possible use of their time there.
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Whether she is researching the latest trends in home decor, life-changing destination getaways, or the best way to maintain your finances, Dewey takes pride in leaving no stone unturned. She is passionate about distilling and delivering high-quality information that you can use to upgrade your life.
