Baby brains develop at a rapid rate. Infants’ neurological wiring holds a world of opportunities. Key development begins at an incredibly early age and stimulating your child’s mind could end up boosting their brainpower and shaping his or her intelligence for years to come. Here are 10 ways to help grow your baby’s intellect:
1. Grow a healthy brain before your baby’s born.
Staying as healthy as possible during pregnancy will give your baby-to-be the best shot at a healthy mind. Maintain a well-balanced diet, exercise, get plenty of sleep and schedule regular doctor appointments. Avoid medications that are known to harm fetal development because often, the brain is the first body part harmed.
2. Pay attention to your little one.
Children have a much higher chance of learning when their curiosity and observations are rewarded. Follow their gaze and comment on what they’re looking at, respond to pointing and describe what the two of you are checking out.
3. Converse with your baby.
Talk to your baby, even if he or she isn’t talking back just yet. Respond to baby talk and describe whatever you’re doing, whether it’s talking about making dinner or changing a diaper. This is how babies learn vocabulary and basic sentence structure.
4. Read to your little one.
Sparking an early interest in books and literature is essential to teaching language. Pick out books with large, colorful illustrations and simple story lines.
5. If your toddler is old enough to play, he or she is old enough to help clean up.
Enforcing cleanup early on introduces important concepts like responsibility and the idea of consequence. But remember, your toddler doesn’t know that cleaning up is a chore yet so make it fun! Sing a cleanup song while you work. Toddlers are eager to help and want to please so make a game out of cleaning up and always remember to thank your little helper.
6. Don’t shy away from a mess.
Scooping mud, splashing water and digging in sand is how little ones explore basic physics. Even though these messy ideas may seem like your worst nightmare, they’re essential for spiking your child’s curiosity and learning. Avoid disaster by making messy play extra structured and keep it outside. Then, when it’s cleanup time, head to the bathtub where your toddler can explore even more textures like slimy soap and a squishy sponge.
7. Allow for crawl space.
Many parents have a hard time letting their newly crawling babies run loose, but this is an important part of their development. Set up a safe, baby-proofed area, free of little objects and blocked off from stairs and sharp corners. Then let your baby run (or crawl) wild. This is how they can investigate the world around them and start to familiarize themselves with day-to-day objects.
8. Sing songs.
Songs are a fun way to learn. Children’s songs teach everything from the alphabet to animals to shapes and colors. They’re also a great way to pass times that may otherwise be boring for a little one. So next time you’re stuck in traffic, bust out your new secret weapon: the Itsy Bitsy Spider.
9. Use every opportunity to learn.
Sometimes parents forget that necessities, like meals or bath time, can be great learning opportunities to explore daily activities. So when you sit down to feed your baby, describe what he or she is eating. Is it fruit, a vegetable or something else? What’s it called? What color is it? Babies will begin to develop favorite tastes and learn to request them by name.
10. Remain positive whenever possible.
No matter how crabby, sleep-deprived and frustrated you get, try your hardest to remain positive. State rules clearly and, by all means, punish if you need to, but always try to reward good behavior. Often times, rewarding the good stuff will save you from having to punish the bad stuff later on.
-“20 Ways to Boost Your Baby’s Brain Power.” Scholastic.
-Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net