How To Raise A Smart Child

Our guest post today is from Jenny Wong.  I enjoyed reading her tips and I hope you do too!  I have been reading as much advice as possible and then making my own decisions on what to do with my daughter with the help of my friends and family.  

We all want our children to grow up smart, do well at school and be successful in their lives. As parents, the ways in which we interact and play with our children can help them to begin developing problem solving, memory and emotional intelligence skills. Here are some great ways to help raise intelligent children. Talking Communicating with your toddler opens the doors to teaching him more about the world around him. Take any opportunity to chat with your child and praise his efforts to communicate with you. Often, babies begin babbling at a few months of age, so repeat the sounds your baby makes. This will show him that he’s communicating with you. Eventually, your baby’s babbles will become words, and you can encourage this by describing things you see, telling your baby what you’re doing and asking your baby questions. If your baby sees a ball and makes a "ba" sound, smile and say "that’s right, it’s a blue ball." Your baby will feel encouraged to keep developing his verbal skills. Repetition Young children learn things by repetition, so always repeat things for your child, in a fun way. Nursery rhymes are a great way to build vocabulary, so sing each one several times. Read books a second time. As your children gets older, encourage them by singing the alphabet and counting to ten with them several times to help them remember what they learns. Motor Skills Babies and children who feel confident with their motor skills learn by experimenting with objects and toys. Help your baby hone these skills by offering toys with different textures and materials, and help your baby learn about sounds with toys like rattles and bells. Peekaboo is a great early game to play with your child, and he’ll delight in pulling the scarf from your face to see your smile and hear your happy voice as he does so. Motor skills are often tied into problem solving. Encourage your baby to bang toys together and put them inside one another, as this helps your baby understand how objects interact with each other. Once your child develops his motor skills, he’ll feel confident to keep putting them into practice as he grows and learns new things. Opportunities For Learning Every day, there are countless opportunities for learning new things with your child. Simply holding a favourite toy up, and saying "up", then down will help your baby learn something new. When out and about, explore textures and colours by letting your baby see flowers and leaves as you walk, then telling him about what he’s seeing. Make getting dressed an opportunity to introduce numbers by counting the poppers as you do them up and make meal times fun by discussing colours and textures of the foods your baby eats. As your child becomes older, he or she can tell you about the foods, how they look and taste. Being able to describe their environment is an important skill for a child because they’ll grow up to be observant and take interest in learning new things. Your child will feel encouraged to explore and develop his new skills when he has parental support and a strong bond with his caregivers. Help your child to feel safe and secure by always responding to his cries, keeping him close to you and showing him you’re always there when he needs you. When your child learns something new, praise him and show him you’re happy. This way, your child will feel confident to explore new ways of playing and thinking, and grow up a smart thinker, with all the skills he needs to face the world.