60. How To Raise A Genius: Even If You Didn't Give Birth To One by Sunshine123
Some babies are unmistakably brilliant from birth. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Mozart were composing music when they were barely out of diapers. S.E. Hinton wrote her first best-selling book at fourteen. But what if your child is not a natural genius. Is there still hope? Research suggests that there is. Our brains are made up of hundreds of neurons (nerve cells). These nerve cells have little spaces between them called synapses. When an electrical impulse jumps from one synapse to another, a connection is made. The more connections we have running through our brains, the easier it is for us to access memories, problem solve, adapt to new situations, and think on our feet. Here 's a rough analogy. Suppose you only know one way to get from your home to your job. If the one road you know floods, or if it is closed for construction, you are out of options. Suppose, however, that you know five, or ten, or twenty different ways to get to your job? If one road closes, it doesn't matter as much because you have so many more roads to choose from. The same is true of our children 's brains. Some of the roads in our children 's brains are genetically hardwired. But some can be built during the critical early years when the child is first learning about his or her world. If we can build enough roads during those critical early years, we can give our kids all sorts of useful tools to call upon as adults. How do the roads get built? By children engaging in natural children 's activities. Love A child can no more grow into a healthy, functioning adult without love than he or she could grow into a healthy, functioning adult without food or water. Children need the love of their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and friends. Each new person in your child 's life will have something new to teach your child, new roads to build and territories to conquer. So cuddle and play with your baby. Look into each other 's eyes. Smile, coo, stick out your tongue, and see if your child imitates you. Every bit of love flowing from you to your child is helping to build new roads. Stimulation Children and babies love bright colors and colors that starkly contrast each other (like black and red or black and white). They love to learn ways to control their world, like shaking a rattle and hearing a funny sound or pushing a button and hearing their favorite song. They love studying faces and learning to imitate the facial expressions of those they love. You don't have to be a millionaire to stimulate your child 's mind. A second-hand brightly colored mobile, a few chewableable books with bright pictures, and lots of daily attention and love will do the trick quite nicely. Play You don't have to teach your child everything about his or her world. In fact, you shouldn't. Babies love figuring out a new toy. Young children love brightly colored toys, soft toys, that can do many different things. Again, your child 's toy box doesn't have to be full of expensive gadgets, a few well-selected favorite items will do. Does This Mean Nature Is Passe? In a word, no. Some genetic conditions and injuries are so devastating to the brain that they simply can't be overcome. But even if your child will never have the I.Q. of Albert Einstein, a child surrounded by love, stimulating toys, and the chance to play and explore will most almost certainly be happy and well adjusted in spite of his or her mental capacity. And in the end, isn't that what matters most? About the Author: The best tips are yet to come! Learn how to raise a genius. Visit Improve Reading Skills for more parenting tips: http://improve-reading-skills.com/smartparenting/rs/index.htm. Article Source: Content for Reprint |
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