After all, intelligence, which many people think is similar to IQ, is one of the basic factors that determine a person's success. Under the background of college entrance examination, intellectual development has become an important project that parents are willing to invest in.
I think that developing intelligence is an overly narrow parenting activity, and it is more accurate and appropriate to provide an appropriate environment to support the development of the brain.
What is a "suitable environment"? Is to be safe, to have some excitement.
Therefore, the purpose of our parenting is to provide a safe and stimulating environment for the baby's brain development, hoping that the baby will have the ability to adapt to society and survive and develop when he grows up.
So what abilities does the baby need to interact with the surrounding environment and people?
observe
Observation is not only to see and see, but also to know, know and understand. It requires certain cognitive abilities, such as memory and a simple understanding of causality.
Just like a 4-year-old child, Tian Tian, went shopping in the vegetable market with his mother. When she saw bitter gourd, she asked her mother, "Mom, why is this cucumber uneven?" She saw a fat woman again and said to her mother, "Look, mom, that aunt is going to have a baby."
Sweet saw a vegetable like cucumber and a woman with a belly, which reminded her of cucumber and her pregnant cousin. This shows that she has an impression and understanding of cucumbers and pregnant cousins.
Cucumber is curved in shape, green in color and has some small thorns. The pregnant cousin is chubby and has a belly. According to her causal inference, the curved vegetable is called cucumber, and the fat woman with a belly is going to have a baby.
She still remembers the expression on her hand when she had chicken pox last time, which was very similar to the bag on bitter gourd, so she concluded that cucumber might grow into a bag.
This shows that she has strong observation and certain reasoning ability, regardless of whether her conclusion is correct or not.
Descriptive power/expressive power
Including the ability to describe one's own observations and express one's needs, feelings and thoughts by means of language and actions.
Or look at the above example, Tian Tian used the word "uneven" to describe the uneven surface of bitter gourd, which is very expressive.
In addition to language, babies need to learn how to express their feelings with body language, intonation and facial expressions, how to express their understanding of the world with music and art, and let the outside world know their inner world.
Ability to analyze and solve problems
This is the ability to get to the bottom of the matter, find out the reasons and solve problems.
For example, when Xiao Qiang built a tall building with building blocks, he found that once he reached a certain height, the building would collapse. He tried several times without success, which was really annoying.
If he can constantly test the width and height of high-rise foundation, find a more stable foundation to build higher buildings, or change different shapes of blocks, it shows that he has strong ability to analyze and solve problems.
creativity
It is the ability to arrange and combine some elements in a new way and generate new things under the original conditions.
From drawing a picture to flying with Lego, the baby's creation in the game today is tomorrow's technological innovation. Creation can become a habit and a way of thinking.
adaptability
Life is constantly changing. From changing teachers and schools to moving, we often have to cope with the pressure brought by change, adjust ourselves and regain a balanced and relaxed state.
Babies with sensitive personality may be born with poor adaptability to change and need the help and support of their parents to improve their adaptability.
skill
Including the initiative and unfamiliar environment, the ability to communicate with people (as the saying goes, the ability to cooperate with people in a task and the ability to resolve conflicts peacefully are all extremely important "soft abilities", which cannot be evaluated by test scores or guaranteed by attending a prestigious school.
In fact, social competence is a concept that has only become popular in American preschool education in recent years. Babies with these abilities, whether in school or in interpersonal communication in life, will be strategizing.
What should parents do?
So what methods should parents use to cultivate these abilities and support the healthy development of their baby's brain?
Talk to the baby
Babies with strong language development ability have at least one parent, who constantly describes the experiences around their children and uses a lot of verbs, nouns and adjectives, such as:
Parents can say, "The baby is surrounded by four square magnets and placed on it with four triangles. It looks like a small house. Is it a small house? "
Then, parents can ask some open-ended questions, such as: "What is a baby building? Who's in there? How to make it bigger? "
Listen to music and make music with your baby.
Soothing music can calm the mood, while cheerful music can release the mood.
We all know that listening to Mozart is a good prenatal education. In fact, babies after birth also appreciate music. Music is often played to the baby, and both those with lyrics and those without lyrics can let the baby adjust his mood.
Parents can also recycle plastic bottles and cans, seal them in cereal beans, make some simple musical instruments, and create their own music with their babies.
eXistenZ
Especially for babies around 2 years old, it is a critical period for sensory development. Open game media, such as water, sand, plasticine and hand-painted pigments, are all good. Sensory game media, often played, is helpful to the development of baby's brain sensory area and promotes the development of creativity.
Allow the baby to be frustrated and help ta bear it.
Frustration education is popular in China. In fact, there is no need for parents to deliberately create setbacks for their babies. Setbacks in growth are inevitable.
For example, parents can wait for a while when the baby can't open the toy jar and let the baby struggle on its own to see if it can solve it by itself.
Or when the baby can't get what he wants, don't meet the requirements of ta (new toys, snacks, etc. ), but to help the baby express depressed mood. Physical contact can be used appropriately to help young babies bear the pressure brought by these setbacks.
Use sign language to communicate
For babies whose language is not fully developed, parents can learn sign language, or create their own sign language to communicate with their babies and help them express their needs.
I want more food, I am full, I want a hug, I want a toy, and so on. This way, the baby will lose his temper less and cry less.
Read with the baby
Not only can you read words, but you can also let all the pictures play freely and explain them, and then let the baby with language ability read them to you. This helps to cultivate the baby's descriptive expression ability and imaginative creativity.
A quiet and relaxing environment
Nothing is more suitable than nature as a background for a baby to develop observation, description and creativity. Indoor, try to decorate furniture with natural light and natural colors, and make toys with natural pigments.
Avoid using electronic toys that are too noisy and have too strong color contrast conflicts, causing too much sensory stimulation to the baby, which is not conducive to ta's quiet thinking and exploration.
touch control
Physical contact has a calming effect on some babies and promotes the brain development of ta. It is also a good way for parents to express their love and promote parent-child relationship. Happy and secure babies learn everything quickly.
Encourage your baby to play dominant games.
This has always been a challenge for China's parents. They should put down their plans and let the baby decide what to play and how to play.
Parents only need to follow the baby, describe, support and share. This will give the baby more opportunities to create, analyze and solve problems.