We all want to raise smarter kids. But, have you ever thought about why we want to raise smarter kids? Some of us perhaps do, because raising a smart child seems easier in terms of school performance, activities and skills learning. But is it really?
When our objective for wanting to raise smarter kids is purely to make life easier for both us and them, we should probably re-assess … But when our aspirations to raise brilliant kids suggest
- we simply want the best for our kids
- and we want to provide them with every possible opportunity to thrive and excel
- and we wish to do so by building on their unique qualities and talents
our priorities are in place. And, we should use whatever help we can get to give them this exceptional head start.
This post on raising smarter kids will help you
discover 7 powerful actions to raise smarter kids using intentional parenting solutions without demanding the impossible or expecting more than your kids are comfortable with. Give them a try today and let me know in the comments how it’s going for you.
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Related
- How You can Raise a Brilliant Child using 8 Powerful Actions
- Help a Distracted Child Focus with 14 Simple Strategies
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Smarter kids defined
The dictionary defines smart as:
- having intelligence
- and being bright
Definitely something we would like to say about our kids. But one thing we need to remember is being smart means something different for every child. All kids have the potential to be smart in their own way. We simply need to identify the source of their intelligence and then build on that.
So let’s delve into discovering clever ways to help you raise smarter kids after understanding the moving parts behind brain development.
How does a child’s brain develop
In order to help our kids grow and develop their brains, we need to know the mechanisms behind it. We can then use this knowledge to understand and implement powerful ways to raise smarter kids more efficiently.
The easiest way to understand how brain development works
Is by using trustworthy resources. Here are some of my best recommendations for understanding brain development. Choose the one that is appropriate for your child’s age, read it, understand it and then follow the smarter child actions below.
2. Flourishing in the first five years
And my favorite smart child resources I need to mention to you
An excellent book to help you
- understand brain development
- and improve learning
- with loads of games and activities
I highly recommend you have a look at this one
2. The whole brain child workbook
When you want to be really empowered with:
- knowledge
- worksheets and
- activities
THIS is a must-have parenting resource
Brain development summarized
Although I strongly advise you invest time in reading through the suggested brain development resources above, I know we all have limited time and resources. So here is a quick recap of the most important points we need to understand:
Provide a nurturing environment
For optimum brain development, we need to provide a nurturing environment for kids to be able to learn and thrive. When kids are young, they are exposed to social, environmental and emotional experiences and these encounters influence your child’s cognitive and brain development.
When kids grow up in a nurturing environment with daily exposure to loving care, brain stimulation and support, a solid foundation is laid. This foundation is the much-needed basis for developing their brains and skills.
Develop a solid foundation
We need to provide our kids with a solid learning framework when they are young. Kids starting life without a stable foundation, often have more difficulty growing and learning at the same pace as others’ who did start off strong.
It becomes a lot easier to simply build onto this stable foundation in later years, rather than trying to create a starting point when they are already at their school-going age.
However, don’t worry when your kids are a bit older already. Even when the younger years were not used optimally to lay a strong foundation, this can still be overcome with some extra effort and training.
Just, realize the problem and invest in finding compelling ways to correct it. Allow the brilliant resources mentioned above to be your starting point.
Discover unique talents
All kids are smart. All kids are brilliant.
We simply need to find what it is our kids excel at. And, then help them build on those talents and skills. And no, it doesn’t mean when we wish to raise astronauts, we have discovered a unique talent. It means even when we wish to raise astronauts we can and will help them grow up to be whatever they want to be. Even when their preferences are to be ballerinas dancing in a space-themed musical…
The secret of raising smarter kids
The answer to this lies within knowing what we as parents can do to help our kids succeed. And, it includes simple actions and activities we can add to our daily routines. Brains are not developed within a day or even a year. It is as you know, an ongoing process. And without daily investment, a shortfall quickly escalates.
The best way to discover this secret is to use the smart kids’ tips below. Time to delve into those and discuss how we can do our best as parents to stimulate brain development.
7 Powerful ways to raise smarter kids
Remember to download your free cheat sheet and start adding these tips and activities to your daily schedules. You will soon reap the rewards and watch your kids blossom. Find all the detail below or watch the quick win video.
1. Raise smarter kids by boosting memory and focus
One of the easiest things you can do to help kids excel at school is to encourage focus and memory.
- grab the focus cheat sheet
- get all the detail here and
- then start implementing the easy tips.
Number nine, playing memory games is one of our family picks. Whenever our kids get overwhelmed we will take time out and play a memory game to retrieve focus. And it works every time! This is by far our favorite superhero memory game.
Focus action tips
Stimulate brain cell development and neural connections by creating a consistent homework routine. This makes homework time less stressful and demanding on both you and the kids.
2. Raise smarter kids by adding brain foods
Adding brain foods to family meals are one of my favorite ways to help our kids focus and stimulate memory and brain development. It’s such an easy way to stimulate your kids’ development and help them
- do well at school
- sleep soundly and
- stay healthy
Brain foods action tips
Download the superfoods pdf and start adding at least two of the food groups to their daily meals.
3. Raise smarter kids doing creative activities
Doing creative activities together stimulates
- creativity
- fine motor skills
- imagination and
- memory and focus
It is important to remember that the benefits of doing creative activities are boosted when you do these with them. Allow independence but offer support and guidance. Use these activities to spend quality time together and help boost their brain development teaching new skills like sculpting, scissor use, paint techniques and more.
Creative activities action tips
Do at least one creative activity together every week. Schedule it into your routines and be sure to make optimal use of this time. Some activities stimulate fine motor skills and creativity more than others. To gain the most benefit, some of the best ones to include are:
COLORING
- click here to discover some of the best coloring sheets for all ages
- get some free bee coloring pages
- have a peek at our own magic coloring book
CARD MAKING
Making cards together is a great way to stimulate your child’s imagination and creativity. Whenever there is a holiday coming up, use the opportunity to do an activity together making awesome handmade cards.
Here are some free tutorials and templates to get you started
PAINTING
What better way to get creative than with painting. It’s a super affordable and fun way to stimulate brain development, creativity, and imagination. When I give my kids free rein with painting supplies their artworks always blow my mind. But sometimes it also good to direct them a bit and growing their drawing skills and painting techniques.
If you haven’t done any painting with your kids yet, this a brilliant art starting kit including EVERYTHING you need.
SEWING
I just bought my daughter this great sewing machine, and she is loving it. This Brother model is
- perfect for little hands
- lightweight and
- allows basic as well as decorative stitching.
The jam-resistant bobbin placing is a great add on. We are making handbags and soft toys and sewing together is a brilliant mom-daughter activity we both love.
Not good at sewing yourself, this a great way to learn together.
4. Raise smarter kids with love and support
Do not try to raise smarter kids because it makes you feel good as a parent, aim to raise smarter kids to empower them. Give your kids the biggest possible headstart from a young age. And invest whatever it takes, making the best use of their unique qualities and talents, to help them thrive. Forget about your own expectations and focus on helping them achieve their own dreams.
Love and support action tips
Challenge yourself to use your journal and write down at least 10 ways in which you can support your kids. And then choose one a day and implement it. Baby steps are all it takes. Choose small things that will have a big impact. Good examples include:
- do homework together
- start a creative project
- schedule one-on-one time with each child
- plan a family activity
- spend time chatting
5. Raise smarter kids by understanding their needs
It is impossible to love and support our kids when we do not fully grasp what exactly it is they need. Although sometimes difficult to define, we know all kids have basic needs to be fulfilled. As well as other more specific and unique needs.
When we are able to understand and address the most basic needs first because we know what they are, it’s a lot easier to also address the specific needs our kids have.
A good way of understanding what it is your child needs from you, is to remember the acronym L.O.V.E. where the letters signify
- L for lots of Laughter
- O for Open Arms
- V for all-round Versatility and
- E for Everyday Learning
You can read more about it here and it even includes a great action plan to get you started. Keep these basic needs in mind and make sure you create a routine to fulfill all these needs every single day.
What your child needs action tips
Ask your kids at least one question every day to discover their dreams and fears. Knowing what’s in their hearts and minds, makes supporting them a whole lot easier.
6. Raise smarter kids by growing a love for learning
When learning is fun, a lot of our daily stresses as parents are reduced. A good place to start is making homework time a fun activity we do together. Telling kids to sit and read a book or play a game is often tempting but not half as much fun for them as when we take the time and do it with them. It’s our responsibility to teach our kids that learning can be fun. And, investing time in helping them learn.
Developing a love for reading from a young age not only boosts brain development at their current age but also eases reading activities for the future. A win-win situation for everyone.
It’s possible to grow learning skills without the kids even realizing it. A good way to do this is by playing educational games together. Here are a couple of our favorites:
THE SNEAKY, SNACKY SQUIRREL GAME
Love learning action tips
A great way to help kids love learning without even knowing is by using beautiful learning tools. My kids enjoy reading even more simply because they have access to bookmarks they can color and then use in your favorite books. You can grab one of our free printable bookmarks to color below to get your kids involved and have fun reading and learning.
Grab your pdf copy of the free printable bookmarks for kids here.
And check out some awesome books your kids will love.
7. Raise smarter kids by allowing them to dream big
We should never diminish our kids’ hopes and dreams no matter how insignificant or unrealistic they might be. From young, we must encourage them to dream big and support them aiming to reach their goals.
Not achieving a goal is way better than not having any. And, teaching our kids that failure is simply the opportunity to start over again and try even harder builds resilience and confidence.
Big dreams action tips
There is no better starting point to realizing dreams than by capturing them on paper. And then, using the epic power of affirmation to take us another step closer to reaching our dreams. Help your child discover the value of journaling and affirmation. Hopefully, you are using it already to discover and realize your own mom goals. If not, you should probably read
and after you nailed it, check out these great resources that will help your child dream big and live even bigger.
AFFIRMATIONS FOR KIDS
THE BEST JOURNAL FOR TEENAGERS
BEST JOURNAL FOR MOTHER & DAUGHTER
s
THE BEST JOURNAL FOR MOM & SON
Raising smarter kids resources
Let’s conclude this post by quickly answering some of the most popular brilliant child questions that parents like you often have. And if you have another, leave a comment and let’s find a solution together.
How can I raise smart and intelligent children
By using tips like the ones above and more importantly by allowing your kids to
- be themselves
- believe in themselves
- have dreams and pursue them
whilst you love and support them every step of the way.
What foods make babies smarter
Read all about the best brain foods for kids and discover the superfoods that will boost your child’s brain development. Be sure to grab the free superfoods printable and start adding at least of the food groups to their daily meals.
How can I improve my baby’s brain development
One of the easier ways is to invest in educational toys appropriate for his or her age.
You can find a great resource for the best learning toys here.
Best how to raise smarter kids books
- brain stages
- the whole brainchild workbook
- brain rules for baby
- flourishing in the first five years
- the teenage brain
Your next steps on raising smarter kids
1. Implement the 7 powerful tips
as the first step to raising smarter kids and remember:
Lower your expectations and have more fun together.
- boost memory and focus
- add brain foods
- do creative activities
- understand needs
- love and support
- grow love for learning
- support big dreams
2. Use free tools and resources to guide you
- grab your FREE positive parenting worksheets
- join the FREE Awesome Parent Challenge
- get access to the FREE How to Master Motherhood course
- join the FREE Healthier Family Challenge
3. Invest in effective parenting tools and resources
- Brain stages
- The whole brainchild workbook
- Brain rules for baby
- Flourishing in the first five years
- The teenage brain
and the last but probably most important step
4. Love your kids for who they are!
Read more on raising smarter kids
- How You can Raise a Brilliant Child using 8 Powerful Actions
- How to Help a Distracted Child Focus with 14 Simple Strategies
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Thank you very much for sharing such an useful article.
I think this article is useful for parents. This article very clearly explains every step to be followed for growing up kids be it their food, physical exercise or mental exercise.