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How to boost your child's brainpower

Parenting

boost ;child;brainpower;How ;nutrition The way you play and interact with your child and what you feed her with will have a significant impact on her brain.

Don’t try to fast-track your child’s development, because children progress at different rates; but there are lots of ways you can help boost her cognitive and motor skills, which can help improve concentration and reduce hyperactivity.

 Brain food

Researchers stress the effects of fish oil supplements on pre-school children. They say it’s the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oils that help boost brain function by their positive action on the brain’s neural transmitters.

Researchers and parents notice the children’s concentration improving within a week of taking the supplements.

However, doctors recommend getting omega-3 from food rather than supplements. By giving her some oily fish such as salmon twice a week, you’re setting her up for life.

It’s also important to ensure that your child eats a healthy, balanced diet, and has sufficient amounts of iron in her diet.

Iron deficiencies have been linked with delayed development or behavioural problems in young children. Good sources include red meat, leafy green vegetables, legumes such as beans, and wholegrain bread.

Nestle up with a DVD

A study in the US found that children under three who watched television the most performed the worst in reading and math sets at ages six and seven.

Watching several hours of TV a day has also been linked to attention deficit disorder and poor concentration.

Television and DVDs can be a good way to help children experience fantasy and stories. Some cartoons are fine and so are musicals where they learn songs and listen to rhyming words. But try to ensure your child isn’t watching them for hours on end.

You should limit watching time to half an hour a day for under-twos, and one hour for 3 to 5-year-olds.

The power of words

Reading with your  child is one of the best ways to boost her brainpower. Storytelling          introduces structure and language: patterns that help form the building blocks for reading and writing skills.

Reading aloud combines the benefits of talking, listening and storytelling within a single activity and gets parents talking regularly to young children.

Books also help your child learn to express her own thoughts and emotions, and are a great source of new vocabulary.

Choose toys wisely

Spending plenty of time with your toddler, and encouraging her to play actively is the best way to help develop her vital skills, because play is the main way they learn about the world.

It’s a beneficial way to support her language development. The best toys are those that are interactive and engage your child.

Many toys on the market today are purely observational, but developing motor skills is also vital because they form other networks of communication in the brain. Only then will she develop the concentration skills that will help her learn.

Pushy mum?

If you subject your three-year-old to computer and piano lessons, she will grow up emotionally damaged. Children of this tender age develop best with the simplest things.

Most are adequately stimulated playing with a cardboard box, which is great for their imagination and creativity.

 

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