Parents’ Role In Fueling Young Minds

A child’s first classroom is not at school. It is at the dinner table, or the bedroom, or the park. Parents play a critical role when it comes to fueling their children’s minds, helping them with their emotional, social and cognitive development. Young minds are not like empty containers waiting to be dumped with information. Instead, they are like engines that need fueling little by little throughout their journey.

Two four-year olds point at the rays of sun falling through the window and ask their mothers what they are. One mother dismisses the question and changes the conversation, while another answers the question reciprocating the child’s curiosity. The difference may seem small but the result varies extensively.

Parents often serve as the first teachers to their children, because they grow up imitating their parents’ actions, behaviors and even speech. Hence, it is very important for parents to act as the perfect role models and teachers, while teaching values along the way. Simple actions such as helping them with their trivial questions about the world, introducing them to reading and appreciating even their tiny achievements help them go a long way. Including one little useful habit which is followed every day, would bring a huge change in the development of the child. For example, reading moral stories to the child every night before going to bed would entertain the child as well as help them learn good values. Making them take part in interactive activities such as puzzles and crafts as given in i-kids magazine, also helps with the cognitive thinking of children.

Going through kids’ educational blogs would help guide parents to cater the needs of the children. Along with all of this, parents should also make sure to provide the children with proper nutritional support for their development. Deficiencies in essential vitamins accelerates memory loss, reduces function which results in something which is called as “cognitive decline”. Since 60% of their calories are used for the development of their brain, it is the responsibility of the parents to make sure they attain proper nutritional growth.

Children do not have the need to understand the complexities of life. Instead, they need to understand the way of the world, in a way that can be comprehended easily. Parents having an active communication and interaction with their children on a daily basis, along with extensive care aid with that.