Modern parents these days are not only concerned about their child’s physical fitness but also about their brain or “mind fitness”. They are constantly looking out for ways to keep their child healthy – physically and mentally. But how can one make a child’s notorious young mind healthy? Parents need to be patient since the child’s mind needs to be trained in order to improve his ‘working memory’. Working memory is used to do things like remembering directions you were recently told. A child who has poor working memory is prone to have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and usually struggles with learning, language and organizing their thoughts. Hence, mind training is an essential objective that must be worked upon as your child grows.
On the other hand, every child has a special ability to do certain things. One child might excel in language, while the other could be great at math. One child remembers everything he is told, while the other cannot remember what his mother told him to get from the grocery shop. The ability to plan, manage time, remember things are all mental abilities known as executive functions. They also include the ability to manage emotions, solve problems, be adaptable, stay organized and communicate effectively. Executive function plays an important role in determining how successful your child is going to be at school, work and in other aspects of their lives.
Coherently, the mind has to be trained to achieve the best working memory and executive function in order to contribute to a more productive and satisfying life for your child.
Today in this blog I will be discussing 6 best ways of training your child’s mind. But let us first see what is mind training all about?
Mind training for kids is all about practicing and challenging a new activity for building and maintaining cognitive skills. Mind training is also known as brain training or cognitive training.
As kids grow, their mind has an ability to expand and learn. For it to do so, you have to train it on a regular basis. There are various tasks and exercises that help kids improve their cognitive abilities. These tasks aim at setting up foundation skills like paying attention and remembering information over time.
Below are listed 6 activities that can sharpen your child’s mind:
- Deep breathing exercises: Deep breathing is known as ‘elevator breathing’ (moving breath or oxygen to all parts of your body). In my experience, kids love doing this if taught in a fun way. Practicing this early morning on a daily basis helps improving memory and emotional control. How can we do it? Ask your kid to sit comfortably in a well- ventilated area in a cross- legged position. Instruct them to breath in and out naturally. As they breath, tell them to pay attention to their breath and ask them to start breathing in through their nose and later to breath all the air out from the nose. Parallelly, during inhalation, tell them to fill in the air into their chest, throat and nose, and while exhaling tell them to take out all the troubles and worries down their chest, belly, legs out through their feet.
- Mind and body co- ordination work out: It is important that your mind (brain) and body work collaboratively and stay in sync. Hence, for a better performing brain, the mind and body both needs exercise.
- Wiggling toes: This greatly contributes in co- ordination. Kids of any age can practice doing this every morning after waking up in bed. Ask your child slowly to move your toes up and down. Gradually increase the toe movement and then gradually restrict the wiggling to both the great toes.
- Use the other hand: Encourage your child to use their non- dominant hand. If they are right- handed, ask them to use their left hand and if they are left- handed, ask them to use their right hand for doing activities like writing, watering the plants, getting dressed, during bath etc.
- Co- ordination through play: Playing the piano or operating the keyboard of a computer is one of the best exercises to improve brain integration in a fun way.
- The memory game: For toddlers you can take few of their toys and cover them. Then take one away and ask them which one is missing. For older kids, you can put random objects in front of them for 15 seconds. Let them memorize. Take all of them away and see how many they can remember. Gradually increase the number of objects to make it more challenging for the brain.
- Talk about their favorite memory: Kids will love to visualize their favorite memories when you ask appropriate questions. In order to stimulate thinking, start asking about the strong moment they enjoyed the most. Help them make connections and relate those moments into their daily life. This approach will improve their long- term memory.
- Playing brain games online: Parents will not regret to give their children screen time when they play mind challenging games online like find the word, match- up, missed ball, spot the difference, puzzles etc. These scientific brain boggling games improve child’s cognitive skills like focus, attention, memory and problem- solving skills. My workshops are packed with such activities that stimulate both the right and left aspects of the brain.
- Reading books: Reading is undoubtfully good for your child’s intellectual development. Reading to your child not only promotes literacy but enhances attention span, stimulates speech and language development. By reading to your child, you provide them with a deep understanding about their world. They later use this acquired knowledge when they see, hear, read which aids in cognitive development.
Mind training can prove to be asset for your child if nurtured well. It is actually a win- win situation for the child as well as parents. Play may be the work of the child, but adults can also destress themselves by exploring a child within them as they do these activities together. Take out time to teach, encourage and participate with your child in these activities. It will not only improve brain function, but will build relationships and memories together.