Tools to Help Your Kids Succeed

Have you ever heard parents talking to their babies, often in those high silly voices and thought, well that is kind of annoying?  Did you know those parents are actually doing a huge service to their kids?

Did you realize that 90% of a child's brain development occurs in the first five years?  90%!  As a mother of three, with my youngest now five, I can't help but look back and wonder if I did enough.

But don't worry if you didn't do flash cards, enroll your child in every class, find enriching activities every day; as just three simple things can have a huge impact.

Talk,  Read, Sing!® 

From the First 5 California Website it states:
 "A number of factors influence early brain development.  These important factors include: daily experiences, parent responsiveness, nutrition, physical activity, genetics, and love.

So what are some things you can do to help your kids succeed:

Infants:

  Talk to them, sing to them, read to them

When my oldest was starting solid food, we had a "song" for almost every food he tried.

  "Peas, peas- we love the peas.  Please, please, please pass the peas.  Oh how we love the peas."

It was just a silly few lines, sang to random tunes, but it got to the point where he almost didn't even want to eat the food unless we sang the song.  

We were always singing and talking.  I would just walk around with him on my hip and tell him what things were in the house and what I was doing. I have no doubt it had an influence on the fact that he was speaking in complete sentences around 1 1/2-years old. 

Here is a little throw-back to when my now almost 11-year-old was 1 1/2.

Toddlers:
 Read to them, Talk to them, Sing to them, Explore with them

Toddlers are active, they are learning new things almost daily.  Hopefully you have already been reading but at this age they can begin to interact with the book more.  It is often hard to get toddlers to sit still, but short, funny stories with bright pictures can often reel in even the most active toddler.

My oldest seemed like he would never sit still, except for when I read to him; we would read for hours.

The great thing with books and reading is it is free!  The local library is a heaven of books and fun.  If I found a book one of my kids really liked, I would then search the thrift stores for that book, as reading a book again and again (as much as it drives the parent crazy) is actually a great tool for word recognition and learning to read.  

Alex at age 2, would "read" me her favorite book.  "I love Trees"  She really had it memorized and was just saying the words, but as a child does this again and again their brain will make the connection between the written word and what they are saying.

Another throw-back to Alex reading her favorite book. 

Preschoolers  Explore with them, Read to them, talk to them, Sing to them
At this age kids will begin to ask why, not only why do they have to do things (the why that drives parents crazy), but why things happen, why things work the way they do.  It can be tiring to answer their endless questions, but this is a time when the world is beginning to open up to them in a whole new way and they are making connection and understandings like never before.   So answer those why's. When my kids were younger I stared a Time for Tot's Day, where just one day a week I would plan a little "lesson" with activities to go along with that theme.   My kids loved these days.  We would talk about science, we would act out stories, we would learn about shapes and holidays.  We only did this one day a week, but that one day seemed to set the pace and attitude for our entire week.  At this age, you can help prepare for school too.  It always seems to work best when learning doesn't feel like learning.  Trying to teach them sight words-let them whack the word with a toy hammer or throw a ball at the word.    Teaching them about science- get some water and freeze it and then put those ice cubes in a pan and watch them melt.   The key is to just always be talking, always describing, always making connections for their brains. Use big words just make sure you explain what it means too.  You will be amazed at what they can comprehend.     Resources to Help There are so many great resources out there, blogs dedicated to teaching, Pinterest is full of ideas, and now there is a new resource First 5 California.  This site is dedicated to resources for those first five years.  They realize the importance and the amount of brain growth that occurs these years so have provided great resources and teaching tools.  The site has:   Activity Centers   Health Center   Learning Center   FREE Music  It really is a great site with so many free resources to help you help your child learn.   Definitely head over to First 5 California and find some inspiration for you and your kids.  At the end of the day, if you are there for your children, there with your children and talking, singing and reading to them- you are helping your children grow and develop.