Help Your Child be an AlphaKid!

Has your child ever started using complex words that surprised you? For instance, your three-year-old says “I’m exhausted,” instead of “I’m tired.” Kids can pick up new words or skills without us noticing. Their brains are in peak development between ages one and five, when they build the most number of neural connections. The capabilities your toddler picks up are the building blocks for his or her performance in school.

Moreover, according to this study by Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child, “It is easier and less costly to form strong brain circuits during the early years than it is to intervene or ‘fix’ them later.” Kids have an advantage over us adults: they find it easier to learn! Experiences help their brains absorb learnings without much effort. But kids can’t build strong brains by themselves. An article by The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative says, “they need positive, nurturing interactions with trusted caregivers to support their development.”

It makes sense to make the most of this golden window and set your child up for success in later years. Here are activities that boost your child’s inner genius.

Serve and Return

A healthy brain is built on a foundation of serve-and-return experiences at a young age. By interacting with your child as we detailed further here, you’re helping them develop cognitive, emotional, and social skills for the future. 

Lots of Play

Guided and free play strengthens your child’s brain architecture, even if it’s as simple as blowing bubbles or stacking blocks. Choose games that develop motor skills, stimulate the senses, let them think creatively, make use of logic, and challenge them through requiring concentration and perceiving patterns. 

Read, Read, Read

Prepare your kids for academic success, inspire creativity, and improve language skills, concentration, and discipline through reading. Reading a book a day to your toddler does wonders for their brain development. A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics details how the brain’s sections that visualize spoken stories and extract meaning from language are highly stimulated during parents’ and children’s reading and bonding sessions.

Brain Food

A healthy brain needs to be fed not just with stimulating activity, but with the right nutrients that support brain development. This is most critical at age three to five, when the brain builds the most number of connections. The process of creating neural connections is linked to myelination. Myelin speeds up the transmission of signals between brain cells, which facilitates fast thinking. Promil Gold Four is our only milk with breakthrough brain-boosting α-Lipids (Alpha-Lipids) that help speed up brain connections through myelination.  

Follow articles like these on MyAlphaKid.com.ph for expert tips and advice on brain development: from nutrition to parenting tips. 

References:

•    Brain Architecture. Center on the Developing Child - Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/brain-architecture/
•    Brain Architecture. Alberta Family Wellness Initiative. https://www.albertafamilywellness.org/what-we-know/brain-architecture
•    Serve and Return. Center on the Developing Child - Harvard University. https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/serve-and-return/
•    Play – The Building Block of Your Child’s Brain Architecture. Aurora Early Education. https://auroraearlyeducation.com.au/2020/06/play-the-building-block-of-your-childs-brain-architecture/
•    Reading to Young Children Helps Develop Their Brains. Northfield Hospital + Clinics. https://www.northfieldhospital.org/reading-young-children-helps-develop-their-brains
•    Kemp, C. (2015 Apr). MRI shows association between reading to young children and brain activity. The American Academy of Pediatrics. https://www.aappublications.org/content/early/2015/04/25/aapnews.20150425-4