Raise a Smart Kid: 10 Helpful Tips for Parents

1. Exercise Their Brain

90% of brain development happens by the age of five. The early years are perfect for exercising your child’s brain. So get them puzzles, teach them how to play chess and sudoku, give them riddles, and introduce them to maths early on. 

You can also give your kids word search puzzles to help them practice and develop their vocabulary. You can try this page out to help your kids with their vocabulary development while also exercising their brains with word puzzles. 

2. Read With Your Kids

Don’t just read to your kids. Read with your kids! This will help them develop reading skills, and they’ll also grow a fascination with reading from a very young age. Besides these, they’ll develop language skills and literacy at an early age.

Learning is an active process, so reading with your kids will help them grasp words properly. Also, read aloud to them. It will help them develop listening and understanding skills, and they’ll be able to talk and write in complete sentences quite early. 

3. Don’t Believe in ‘The Dumb Jock’

What’s the dumb jock? For years, people believed that athletes were incapable of excellent academic performance, yet they’re very popular among people because of their athletic abilities. 

This is far from the truth. The more athletic you are, the better your brain functions, and you’ll be more intelligent. So get your kids into physical activities and get them in good shape. 

Increased blood flow will improve their memory and learning skills drastically, and you’ll raise a smart kid!

4. Encourage Playing Open-Ended Games

It’s important that you allow your children to play unstructured games. It’ll spark their imagination and boost their creativity while helping them build social skills. 

Let them play whenever they want to. This shouldn’t be limited to the playtime at their schools. Allow them to play voluntarily when they feel like it and however they want to play so that they can learn and improve problem-solving skills. 

5. Give Them Creative Lessons

You should make your kids listen to music, learn music, and let them play with colors and art. Studies show that music improves memory. Arts such as painting and coloring help kids express their feelings and imagination, which is a healthy way to cope with situations.

Creative development at an early age is necessary for the overall development of your kid’s intelligence. Allowing kids to be active with creative work keeps both sides of their brains active, which also keeps them happy. The happier they are, the more enthusiastic they’ll be about things. 

6. Make Them Social

A lot of kids tend to be very shy in public. It’s crucial that you take them to social settings frequently to help them develop their social skills. 

The neighborhood you live in, the schools they study in, and the social groups you associate them with will impact their upbringing. Having a positive peer group will have a positive effect on the overall development of your kids.

7. Ensure Proper Nutrition

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to give your kids proper food. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so ensure that it’s  filling and full of essential nutrition, so their brain develops properly. It also helps them pay attention properly and retain information more effectively.

You may treat them with fast foods now and then, but don’t make it frequent. They can be addicting and negatively affect their brain and body. 

8. Teach Them Self-discipline

Discipline is something that comes with, well, discipline, which is why you should start it earlier on your kids. Getting them into a discipline and routine will make their memory better, improve language skills, and have better problem-solving abilities early on.

Fix their bedtime routine, make sure that they’re not sleep-deficient, and make them follow it properly daily. Teach them how to make their bed and make them brush their teeth every morning. Have them organize their room, and let them finish their homework.

Involve them in household chores as well, such as cleaning up their mess if they spill something, sorting out vegetables, keeping their toys in place, cleaning the table, and folding clothes with you.

9. Teach Them the Growth Mindset

Have you heard of fixed mindset and growth mindset? The fixed mindset perceives that their abilities, talents, and intelligence are all fixed traits, whereas the growth mindset believes they can achieve and improve all of these through constant efforts and persistence. 

Teach your kids the growth mindset. Kids tend to get disheartened when they can’t get the expected outcome. Always encourage them to improve and teach them that failure is an opportunity to learn and grow more.

Let them explore and try new things and make mistakes. Help your kids face challenges and teach them that they’ll stretch and thrive in these conditions. Make them concerned about changing and improving constantly. They’ll grow up to be intelligent people. 

10.  Believe in Them

Emotional intelligence is crucial in our lives, and the earlier it develops, the better. Always ensure your kids that you believe in them. Make them feel connected, heard, loved, and comforted. Try to understand them when they show extreme emotions and validate them.

Be attached to your kids so that they don’t feel left out. Hug them often, and kiss them when they’ve done something good or something they shouldn’t have done. If they do something unacceptable, talk to them gently and make them understand why they should never do it. 

If they’re doing something and are constantly failing or feeling pressured, then instead of criticizing them, let them know that you believe in them and they can do it. It’ll boost their morale, and they’ll be successful every time they do something difficult.

Conclusion

Raising a kid is not an easy job. On top of that, raising a smart kid is definitely not easy. You have to be present all the time, yes, but the end result can be sweet. 

At the end of the day, your child will be intelligent and smart in every way. Your kid will be successful in every aspect of their life and pass it down to generations to come.