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As your child grows, so does their development. Development can be impacted by the things you do, just as much as by the things you don’t do. Children are like sponges and will pick things up from their environments, family, and peers. Becoming more involved in your child's development is a great thing to do. Not only can you help get them on the right track for school, but it can also help to boost their development for the rest of their life.
Working with your child to boost their development isn’t just getting a head start on the school curriculum. Instead, it is about helping them adopt different skills that will help them socialize and connect with others, listen actively, get curious, have a basic understanding of things they will learn at school, and so much more. As a parent, you have a huge influence on your children and their development.
You can tailor this to their needs by engaging in different activities with your children at home. It is important to consider how you can do this in a fun way, for example, through games and other activities your children may find exciting. You should ensure you don’t put too much pressure on your children. At the end of the day, they are children. They will all have their rates of development. Take things slowly, listen to the needs of your children, and adapt accordingly.
To help you on your journey, here are some top tips to help you boost your child's development.
Talk to your children
Many parents will try to find fancy child development tools and activities. While they can be great, some people miss out on some of the simplest and most effective ways you can enhance your child’s development. Just talking to your children, and chatting back and forth together can have a positive impact on their development. This can help with vocabulary, words, and language, but it can also help with other social cues such as body language, hand gestures, facial expressions, and more. This can be progressed depending on how old your child is.
Have fun with your children
Simply just finding ways to have fun and make your children laugh will significantly help their development. Unfortunately, with technology, social media, the pressure of school and peers, and then the hustle and bustle of life, joy is something that many kids miss out on from a young age. Experiencing joy is an important human emotion, and can help children with all kinds of things in life.
Expressing and regulating emotions
There are many skills children will learn in school, but expressing and regulating their emotions is not one of them. Children who learn how to identify, express and regulate their emotions in a positive way, will have better communication skills, better relationships, better disposition to learning, a positive sense of self, and experience more joy in life. They will know how to handle stress and challenges, which will make them more resilient. These are important skills and will get them far in their life and careers.
You can do this in many ways. First, you should be a good example to your children and show them how it is done. Provide your children with a safe and empathetic space to share their emotions and work through them.
Encourage curiosity
Humans are naturally inquisitive, especially when they are babies and young children. You can encourage your children to explore their curiosity, as well as ask them more questions to help them get more curious. This is a great way to help them build strong connections in their brain, and build a skill that can positively help them in all walks of life.
Learn together
Learning might be something you do through activities, and then games as your child gets older. This is a great way to teach them new skills and keep motivating early learners to use their brains in different ways. If you continue this as your children get older, they will have better social connections, good problem-solving skills, be able to listen and collaborate with others, enhanced creativity, good multitasking skills, and more. You can do this in a fun capacity with games, and eventually help your children to utilize these skills when it comes to things like doing their homework.
Playing and interacting with your child is the best way that you can support and enhance their development. Children will do this by themselves, but it can go a long way if they have a parent supporting and encouraging them.