10 Steps to Making Your Kid Smarter
What makes children smarter from a baby up to 10 years of age? Here are 10 things that, according to scientists, can be helpful.
1. Music lessons
Everything is clear and simple. Research shows that music lessons make children smarter.
Compared with the children from control groups, the children in music groups showed a greater increase in IQ. The impact of music was quite small, but the analysis was carried out according to a variety of additional criteria for mental development, in terms of various indices and standard criteria for academic achievement.
In fact, music lessons help everyone, both young and old. A growing number of studies indicate that music education gives students a number of advantages in the classroom at school. Northwestern University has conducted another study which showed that music lessons are also beneficial for grandmothers, slowing down some harmful effects of the aging process.
2. A dumb bodybuilder is a myth
A bodybuilder can be not smart enough because he spends more time in the gym rather than in the library. But what if you do so that your children will attend both places? If you are in good physical shape, your cognitive abilities increase.
In 2007, German scientists found that after exercising people remember new words from the dictionary 20% faster than before the workout. The pace of memorization is directly correlated with the neurotrophic factor in the brain.
Life with regular exercise for three months increases the blood flow to the part of the brain that is responsible for memory and cognition by 30%.
In the course of the study, a group of volunteers was asked to go in for sports for three months, after which the scientists scanned their brain. They saw that the volume of the hippocampus capillaries in the area of memory had increased by 30%, which was a truly remarkable change.
3. Do not read to their children, read with them
Do you have a small kid, who is learning to read? Do not let him just stare at the pictures in the book as you read. Attract his attention to the words. Do not read it to him/her, read it together. Studies show that it develops reading skills.
When reading a book together is supported by the increased attention to the development of reading skills in a child, such joint reading can become an effective tool for early literacy, even for children who do not have favorable conditions.
4. Let your kid sleep enough
Lack of sleep makes children more stupid The brain of a sixth-grader, who sleeps one hour less, turns into a brain of a fourth-grader. According to the researchers, the loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to the loss of two years of cognitive formation and development.
There is a definite relationship between academic performance and sleep duration.
Teens from the group of A-students sleep on average 15 minutes longer than those who have good marks; the latter sleep 15 minutes longer than those who have average results and so on. This is confirmed by the earlier data and the latest research. These are average data of course, but the similarity between the results of different studies is impressive. Every quarter of an hour is important.
5. Intelligence Quotient is not worth much without self-discipline
Self-discipline is an important indicator of intelligence for the prediction of who will achieve great success in life. According to Charles Duhigg, who dwells upon the issue in his excellent book, dozens of studies show that will power is the most important habit that can provide personal success…
The students that have more will power receive better grades in the classroom and enter universities with more strict selection policies. They are less likely to miss classes, spend less time watching television and devote more time to their homework. According to the researchers, adolescents with high levels of self-discipline outshined their more impulsive peers in all aspects of the study. Self-discipline is more important for performance in school than IQ. Self-discipline also indicates which students improve their academic progress during the school year, while the IQ cannot do it… Self-discipline has a greater impact on the results of the study than intelligence.
Grades are largely the result of responsibility and diligence than of bare intellect.
Integrity is the trait that guarantees success at work. It is especially interesting that integrity can indicate future success of a person not only in the workplace. Conscientious people get better grades in school and college; they are less likely to commit crimes; and they maintain their marriage longer. Yes, they also live longer – and not only because of the fact that they smoke and drink less. They have strokes less often, they have lower blood pressure and suffer from Alzheimer’s disease less than others.
So, who is most successful in life? Persistent and hardworking children.
As the researchers found, such a feature as persistence is the best predictor of success, and it has neither cognitive nor a physical nature. Persistence is defined as perseverance and the desire to achieve long-term goals.
6. Train the Brain
Knowledge is an active process Developing toys and educational games do not train your brain. In fact, there is the reason to believe that children become more stupid due to them.
These things do not have a positive impact on the vocabulary of the children aged 17 to 24 months. And some even cause real harm. During every hour spent watching some children’s DVD and video, kids learn on average six to eight words less than the children who do not spend time in front of the screen.
Real cognition is an active process, not passive. The author of “The Talent Code” Dan Coyle says you should stop reading and check yourself.
Our brain develops when we do some things, but not when we hear about them. That is why many skills and abilities require spending two-thirds of the time in self-examination rather than in the process of the simple absorption of texts. There is the rule of two-thirds. For example, if you want to memorize a passage, it is better to spend 30% of the time reading it, and the remaining 70% checking the acquired knowledge.
7. Food is good at the right time
It is good, when children eat healthy food all the time. Studies show that food affects children’s performance.
Everyone knows that on the day of an important exam one should eat a good breakfast. Studies show that the best foods should be rich in carbohydrates and fiber, which is slowly absorbed. But it is also important what you eat a week earlier. 16 students were tested for their attention and the speed of thinking; then within five days they were given fatty foods low in carbohydrates, which included a lot of meat, eggs, cheese and cream. When they were tested again, the indicators declined.
There are exceptions. No child eats healthy foods constantly. But the trouble is that children often eat “bad” food at the wrong time. Studies have shown that caffeine and sugar can enhance the activity of the brain. The research has shown that caffeine and glucose in their combination may enhance a person’s attention.
There are also very powerful incentives which are very popular among children. So if you want to give your child a candy or a glass of lemonade, it is best to do this when he/she is studying, not when resting.
8. Make Your Kid Happy
A happy child is a successful child Happy and satisfied children are more likely to be successful, well-mannered and well-educated adults. Happiness is a huge advantage in a world that gives priority to the result. In general, happy people are more successful than the unhappy ones at work and in love. They get the best reviews of their work, more prestigious jobs and higher wages. They are more likely to marry and more satisfied with their marriage.
And what is the first step to feel sure that the child is happy? Being a happy parent.
9. Peers are important
Your genetic inheritance and the genetics of your partner have a huge impact on your children. And what about the way you educate them? They are much less important.
According to Malcolm Gladwell, in such things as intellectual abilities and some character traits biological children resemble their parents. But adopted children demonstrate really weird results. Their performance has nothing to do with foster parents. By their character and intelligence these children resemble the people who have been raising, feeding, dressing, teaching and loving them for 16 years as much as two adults taken at random in the street.
So what has the greatest impact on the behavior and actions of your children? Their peers. Usually we talk about the influence of peers when the influence is negative; but more often it is positive. It is important to live in a good neighborhood, to teach children at a good school, and to let them communicate with good children. What is the best way for a high school student to improve his/her performance? To choose a smart roommate. Economist Bruce Sacerdote, who conducted a study involving students at Dartmouth College, understood how great such an impact was. He found that when students with poor grades moved into the room, where high performing students resided, their performance also increased. According to the researchers, these students as if infected each other with good and bad habits of learning so that high performing students motivated their less successful roommates.
10. Believe in them
It is very important to believe that your child is smarter than many others. When teachers say that some kids are smarter, these children begin to learn better – even though these words could have been said at random.
In 1968, Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson conducted a study in the school. They told the elementary school teachers that they had some students in the classroom who could demonstrate dramatic progress in their academic standing. In fact, these pupils were selected at random. There was nothing else done by the scientists to point these children out of the whole group. Nevertheless, by the end of the school year, 30% of the students taken at random increased their IQ by an average of 22 points, and almost everyone increased it by at least 10 points.
And one more remark. Intelligence is not everything. Without morality and empathy smart people can be terrible people.
P. O’Rourke once said that smart people rarely start fights in bars, and stupid people rarely create hydrogen bombs.
We hope this information will help you to make your child wonderful.
