Everyone knows that newborns enter the world ready to explore. As normal babies explore, they learn. Research sheds light on the fact that between birth and 3 years of age, a child's brain goes through its most critical child development stages: socially, intellectually and emotionally.

When babies or toddlers use their senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling -- they are learning. Studies also show that babies with more sensory experiences develop more brain power.

Which family ideas can boost our children's brains to become the "geniuses" they were born to be?

Research shows that the most important thing that we as parents need to do is feed our children healthy foods. Healthy kids are smart kids. Have you ever tried to take a math test on an empty stomach? Didn't do too well, did you?

We can't expect our children to learn new things if they're hungry. And if parents offer only healthy choices, kids get the nutritional building blocks they need for healthy, growing brains. Eating healthy also makes people feel better and fend off sickness.

Try these tricks to keep your child's brain fuelled up.

  1. Breakfast. Eat a breakfast that includes at least one grain, one fresh fruit and a lowfat dairy food. This boosts your energy for the rest of the day, prevents tiredness and helps improve your mood. 
  2. Meals during the day. Eat five or six times a day. No, not big meals. Divide the big meals into snacks and distribute them throughout the day. This also helps tiredness, helps you sleep better at night, curbs depression, and helps people maintain desirable weight. 
  3. Sweets during the day. Limit sweet or creamy foods to one serving daily. Increase your consumption of complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins and minerals by eating more vegetables, fruits and grains. 
  4. Caffeine. Decrease the intake of caffeine to no more than two servings a day -- this includes sodas and tea. Don't allow children to suck down three sodas at dinner or after school. Decreasing the caffeine helps eliminate fatigue, mood problems and sleep problems. 
  5. Water. Increase water intake to at least six 8-ounce glasses a day. Adults and children both suffer from chronic low-grade deydration. This is one of the most common causes of fatigue.

Brains Also Need Stimulation

Providing a brain-boosting home environment isn't that hard. The key is to keep kids engaged and thinking critically about what they're doing - at any age.

At home...

  • Encourage children to think for themselves. Ask them "how could you do that by yourself?" or "Can you figure that out?"
  • Allow them to talk with each other and you. To develop high-order language skills, children need plenty of practice in the art of communication.
  • Encourage children to ask questions. The more connections kids make between what they know and what they're learning, the better.
  • Allow children to teach you. If they become the teachers, that means they understand the concept they are teaching and they have learned it well.

Sometimes research confirms what common sense tells us. For example, Marion Diamond and Pat Wolfe, neuroscientists and educational consultants dealing in brain research, have found that repetition helps memory.

This is no news to those of us who repeated our multiplication tables years ago and still remember them today. As parents, we don't have to necessarily repeat the same thing over and over, like the times tables, but when teaching your child a new concept, say something one way, then turn it around and say it again in another way.

Neurologists have found that the smartest kids are often the ones who are in the school band or orchestra. This doesn't mean that you have to rush out and place your child in a formal music program, but you might want to consider the evidence.

Test results in Albuquerque's 75 elementary schools found that in every single test area kids who were learning to play an instrument and were participating in the school band or orchestra received higher marks than their classmates. And the longer the children have been in instrumental programs, the higher they scored. Japanese students must master three musical instruments before they can graduate from elementary school.

Neurologist  Frank Wilson feels that by teaching a child to play a musical instrument, 80 to 90 percent of the brain's motor control capabilities are devoted to the hands, mouth, and throat. He feels that this develops highly refined control in those areas, and since the child is stimulating the whole brain and not just one portion, it increases the brain's total capabilities.

Monkey Mind

Do you know what a "monkey mind" is? This s the term used to describe the brain's constant chatter. This is the little voice inside the brain that comments on everything that goes on. This happens in adults and children. It can distract you in most situations and uses up valuable brainpower.

Here is one technique to help you and your children ease you monkey minds:

  • Get a timer and set it for 40 minutes. If it ticks, place it in another room where you can't hear it.
  • When the timer goes off, stop everything you're doing. Focus on yourself, your body, your breathing, your thoughts and on what you were saying or doing at the time the timer went off.
  • Say to yourself: I am aware of everything. I am aware of myself. I am aware of my surroundings.
  • Ideally, you should repeat this at least once every hour. As parents, this is probably impossible, so try to do it at least three times a day for at least five days. Then repeat it once a week. This will help calm the mind and reset the brain.

Want More Brain-Boosting Tricks for Your Child? Try These.

  • Conversations along the way. When you're walking, ask questions about the things you see. Don't do this all the time because you don't want your child to feel pressured whenever you're together. Sometimes just take a walk and enjoy the silence. Answer the questions your child asks. Other times, you begin the conversation and ask some questions. Don't make the walk a science lesson every time. This can also be done while grocery shopping, eating dinner, shopping or running errands. 
  • Be a learner yourself. When you are at home, let your child see you learning something new--reading a book, trying out a new physical exercise, playing a new cd, fixing something that you don't know how to fix. 
  • Be contagious. Share your enthusiasm. When children see a sparkle in your eyes, hear the excitement in your voice, and the body language that says, "I'm excited about this!" they are inspired to become like you. 
  • Take it easy. If your child shows enthusiasm about something, like seeing the stars, don't go overboard. The next night, go outside and look at the stars together. Then if she wants to learn more, go to the library and find a book about stars and look at it together. Don't rush to the book store, buy lots of books about stars and insist that she read them all. That kills any interest that she may have about learning.

Feel Like You Need a Little Brain-Boost of Your Own?

Try these simple things to help you continue learning so that your children see that learning is forever.

  • Become a list maker.
  • Use a calendar or organizer.
  • Use rhyming tricks to help you remember things.
  • When introduced to people, repeat their names over and over in your head as soon as you're introduced.
  • Get enough sleep. Don't laugh! This is as important as eating right.
  • Play more games: Crossword puzzles, word searches, Scrabble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and checkers.
  • Keep track of things you're most likely to lose by having specific locations for them. Always keep your car keys in a basket on the counter. Put your grocery list in one place. This will help you and your children be better organized and less stressed, which means better brain connections.
  • Exercise. Yeah, right, you say. Exercise, like enough sleep and a healthy dies, increases brain function. It also makes you feel better.

Learning is a lifelong process. Learn together. It's fun!


 

Sherry Bowen is a freelance writer.