Parenting Workshop Afterthought

I attended another FREE parenting workshop, titled Peak Performance through Brain Training held by Singapore Brain Development Centre at Singapore Management University today. It was spear-headed by the enrichment centre hence no goody bag was given this time (Urgh!). Nonetheless, it was a constructive 2hr and I picked up new parenting knowledge on how to stimulate, motivate and drive young minds.

Contrary to what many people thought, IQs are not fixed and our brain can actually be trained. Though 'smartness' can be passed down genetically, however it only accounts for 20% of the brain. In another word, 20% is from nature and 80% is from nurture. At birth, a baby's brain weighs just 500g but by age 6, it can grow to 1500g. Hence, the 1st 6 years of a child's life are very important because processing speed, logic and reasoning and long term memory decreases as age pass. That is why I am always giving excuses that I am old when I forgot something!

The flow of learning is as such:
Input ----> Processing ----> Output

A brain will grow only when the child starts to think. To help them to tink, we have to play with them symbolically and imaginatively and put them in a problem solving environment. Parents must be childlike so that we can enter their world. This is how to communicate and stimulate them.

There are 6 main brain areas for training:

1. Processing speed
2. Visual Processing
3. Working Memory
4. Logic and Reasoning
5. Auditory Analysis (Listening)
6. Word Attack (Reading)

Parents need to give love: soft love, regular love and tough love. A child must feel loved and happy in order to learn. Every child must have a dream so that they will try their best to achieve it.