Wonder why remembering even simple things seems an uphill task for your child? Blame it on information overload. Here, fun ways to help with that
Right from the moment your child is born, his brain develops and creates a number of neuron connections. You can strengthen the neutral connections for better learning and memory because the growing ability to remember is a critical tool for your child’s cognitive, social and personal growth and success.
Memory is life. Be it doing homework, remembering face or a telephone number, or doing any task, life comes to a standstill without memory. Therefore, it’s better if we help our children understand the scientific way of learning things.
But an information overload through the day with a multitude of facts makes a fleeting imprint on the brain. No wonder a child draws a blank at the end of the day. This new generation has stopped stressing their brain to store information and the brain too has trained itself to ignore info, assuming it to be readily available. It’s important to teach children to build memory skills that they will carry for a lifetime.
Harness the Brain
As a powerhouse consisting of over a trillion neurons, the human brain has an astonishing storage capacity. It has the powerful ability to develop and adapt and continues to reshape itself throughout its lifetime. You can tap this power to enhance your child’s intellect. Improve her recalling ability and expand her learning potential.
We are all gifted with a super brain. We can make our lives easier if we know how it functions. Memory is inherited, but it’s a skill that I learned with practice. There is no good or bad memory but only trained memory, which anyone can develop. You can help your child jump start his cognitive development by engaging him in simple games and activities.
Here are Some Ways to Improve Your Child’s Memory
#1. Music
Psychological studies indicate a close relationship between music and fun way to learn faster and recall more., especially languages.
#2. Visualisation
The brain understands picture language. It becomes easier to learn and recall when you know how to store information in the form of images. This is one of the foremost techniques that children should learn. Help your child create mental images with details that will be a hook to remember the information.
For instance, play a number of brain stimulation games with your kid, put a few toys in a tray and let your child observe them for a while. Then remove some of the toys without his knowledge. Later, Ask him to find which toys are missing. I spy, narrating a story, flash cards, and colour-card matching are some other games that reinforce visualisation.
#3. Colours
Among the many principles that psychologists have discovered in enhancing memory in the use of colour. Colour gives such a strong boost to the brain that it stimulates its other parts, which aids in better learning and recall.
Colour grabs the brain’s foremost attention, over other types of sensory information that we send to the organ. This is why most educators use vivid colours to augment learning in schools.
#4. Connect
The information to remember must pique your child’s curiosity. Use your child’s interests and connect with the information, like her favourite story characters. Anything that is outrageous and funny will make learning more memorable.
#5. Link it
Basic mnemonic techniques like the linking method, journey method, number-shapes and number-rhymes can be introduced to children early. Linking things with what your child already knows and what she wants to remember is called the linking method.
For instance, remembering planets in order is with My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles (for Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune). Your child can even make up her own.
Also Read: Keeping Your Child Safe on the Internet
#6. Chunking
Your child can tackle large numbers, complicated spellings or long lists with the chunking and sorting strategy. It is one of the oldest techniques used for memory retention. You divide a large chunk of info into small learn-able chunks or groups.
For instance, you can break a number like 6902315971 into 690, 231, 5971. Similar chunks are easier to commit to memory. Your child can further explore a relationship among the smaller chunks for easy recall. A word like precipitate can be chunked as pre+cipi+tate.
#7. Feed The Brain
For good brain health, it’s not just about what you should eat but also what you shouldn’t eat. A low-sugar and low-fat diet is considered to be the best-fruits, vegetables, wholegrain and healthy fats including flax-seed and fish oil (Omega-3), all have a positive impact on learning and memory.
Other factors include a positive environment, rest, exercise and consistent practice of techniques that will help your child develop and apply good memory skills throughout her life. The Benefits of That Afternoon Nap
Ways to Improve Child’s Memory
20-30, the ideal number of minutes a child should nap in the afternoon. An afternoon nap of not more than 30 minutes-a power nap- recharges the batteries of drained-out kids. The nap releases growth hormones that help in the child’s development, make him mentally alert, improve performance at school and lead to better sleep at night.
However don’t encourage habitual napping that exceeds an hour, and results in sleep inertia; in other words, incomplete awakening leading to grogginess.