HelpYourChildSucceed.cm

Learning Solutions for the 21st Century'

Parenting Tips For The New Millennium

Your Amazing Child

Parenting Tips: The New Frontier
We stand on the shore of the 21st century.
What does the future hold for our children?

Life now seems to be dominated by computers
- fruit of the technological revolution.

Most people are of the opinion that space is the next frontier to be explored. Many eminent researchers would disagree.
The mind, they say, is the new frontier.

Parenting Tips - What Is Genius?
Scientists declare that we cannot begin to imagine what our mind's are capable of. It is now estimated that we only use about 4% of our brain's potential.
If we could increase that to 8% we would all be geniuses - as we define genius at the moment.

Our brains are composed of cells known as nuerons. These nuerons connect with each other to form 'learning pathways'.

American scientist Robert Ornstein declares there are more possible connections between these nuerons than there are known atoms in the universe!

Parenting Tips - The Most Crucial Ability
Probably the most important quality children will need in the 21st century is the ability to 'learn how to learn'.

They will need to be able to process the vast amount of information becoming increasingly available.

They will need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

Chris Gamble of 'Mind Kind' states in his book, 'The Heart of Learning', that our very survival as a species may depend upon our ability to respond and adapt.
All we can do is try to ensure our children get the best possible start in life.

Parenting Tips - Your Amazing Child
Imagine the world's most powerful computer. Your child possesses a brain potentially more powerful.Unlike other organs the brain is irreplaceable. It is what makes us what we are - unique individuals different in some way from all the individuals who have ever lived or will ever live.

There is something almost mystical about the brain. We still know so little about it despite the great advances in our understanding that have occured during the latter part of the twentieth century.
Who knows what your child has the potential to become?

Parenting Tips - Aim For The Stars
As parents we have all visualized a future for our children. Often this future may reflect the dreams we never realised ourselves.
One of the greatest painters of the last century once said,

"My mother said to me,'If you become a soldier you'll become a general; if you become a monk, you'll end up as the Pope.' Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso."

What aspirations do you have for your child?
Maybe you are not able to set your sights as high as Picasso's mother.
Maybe you should.

Parenting Tips - Natural Born Learners.
Your child was born to learn.
It is genetically encoded in each of us.
A healthy baby is born with about 100 billion brain cells called nuerons.
Each cell could sprout up to 20,000 different branches.
Each branch helps store and process information.

Think of each cell as a seed that falls into rich soil. The richness of the soil and the sun and the rain help the seeds put down a vast interconnecting network of roots deep in the earth.
The soil is the rich learning environment we call the home.
The sun and rain the learning experiences that you provide to stimulate the growth of your child's brain.
And how it grows!

Parenting Tips - Shaping Your Child's Future
At birth your child's brain is not fully formed.
By 6 months it is half the size of an adult brain.
At age three it is about 80% the size of an adult brain although he/she has only attained half of his/her adult height.

During this crucial period the brain decides which connections to keep or which to leave wither and die.Your child's brain is physically taking shape and you are helping create it.

The experiences you offer your child at this vital period will have lifelong consequences.
Experiences cause physical changes to the brain. You literally decide whether your child flourishes in an experience rich environment or languishes in an arid sensory wasteland. The absence of experiences cause negative changes to the brain.

Parenting Tips - The Most Precious Gift You Can Give
What your baby needs most is your time.

Deb Hawthorn who runs a parenting group in Dunedin, New Zealand once told me the three most important factors in a relationship were TIME - TOUCH - TALK. While we cannot 'talk' to our newborn child we can COMMUNICATE.

Communication with your child stimulates brain growth.
Smiles and cries are ways your child tries to engage with you. He/she recognises his/her mother's voice. Toddlers will communicate with words.

Your  baby's main need for the first six weeks of his/her life will be food, comfort and love. Building a strong relationship early ensures less problems in later years.

Jane Dorman says,
 "A baby is born into a world in which, essentially, he is blind, can't hear very well and his sensation is far from perfect. And that's a very uncomfortable place for a baby to be. He's trying  to figure out: 'Where am I? What's going on? What's going to happen next?'
That's because he can't see, he can't hear and he can't feel very well. So I think the job of a parent is very clear: to give enough visual, auditory and tactile stimulation so that the baby can get out of this diemna of not being able to see, hear or feel."

Parenting Tips - Windows Of Opportunity
Distinct windows of opportunity for learning occur as you child grows. Some will close only to open again at a later stage of development. Some will never open again

It is vital you take advantage of the opportunity to provide the experiences that will stimulate growth in these areas.

NEXT: Parenting Tips            Presents:
           Sensory Pathways

If you would like to have parenting tips for the new millennium delivered as an email please insert your email address in the form below.
We will automatically send you any new material as long as you remain subscribed.
We will NEVER share your details with a third pary.