Keep Your Baby Reading !

Here are some tips on ways that parents can keep reading interesting and help our children build important developmental skills.

1. USE ANIMATED VOICES
Read the story using a different voice for each character. My father read the JRR Tolkien series to us as children and his Golum and Bilbo Baggins voices were the best!

2. LEAVE OUT WORDS
When reading leave out words or parts of sentences for your child to fill in.

3. READ WITH ACCENTS
If you find yourself getting bored with a book, start reading with an English, French or Spanish accent!

4. SING THE STORY
Make up a tune and start singing. If you aren't good at making tunes up pick a familiar classical or folk song.

5. CHANGE THE WORDS
In reading their most favorite books I keep my attention by changing the main characters name constantly throughout the story. My kids find it a fun game to correct me. For older kids try changing the sentence or word at the end of every page to see if my kids can catch the mistake. Start with outrageous words (Hippopotamus or Pickle work well)that have nothing to do with the story at first but make it harder as they catch on.

6. READ THE BOOK BACKWARDS
This won't work for all books, but it's lots of fun to try!

7. MAKE UP A NEW STORY
A good children's book should tell a story that makes sense without the printed words. Help your child make up a new story that fits the pictures.

8. WORD SEARCH
If the kids know their alphabet, teach them a simple word, then have them find or count how many times the word is used in the story.

Never too Early to Start Teaching Your Preschooler

There are some reasons why it is never too early to start teaching your preschooler :

1. It's fun. Play is how a child learns so make playtime rich with learning activities. The creative parents will have just as much fun as the children.
2. It's easy. A walk in the park, digging in the sandbox, pulling out the crayons and paper - learning happens naturally, every day.
3. Bonding. What better way to bond than to share a favorite picture book with the baby in your arms without distractions.
4. Children learn quickly. You've heard the saying "minds like sponges."
5. Learning brings understanding and order to what may seem like a chaotic world.
6. Boost to child's self-esteem! "I can do it by myself!"
7. School preparedness. Even if the child has not started to read by kindergarten, laying the groundwork early will provide all the tools they need for a successful start to school.
8. Smooth Sailing. Early learning leads to stress-free kindergarten and first grade for parents and child...(and teacher).
9. Important years. There is more and more evidence that the first three years are very important in laying the groundwork for future success in life.
10. Independence. Learning promotes independence in play and regular daily activities.

The Mozzart Effect

In early 1992, researchers from the University of California, Irvine discovered that college students performed much better in math testing while Mozart music was being played.

This was a phenomenal discovery. Although these findings pertained only to college students, everyone was curious to see if playing Mozart might have a positive effect on the early baby's brain.

The connection between intelligence and exposure to music may seem like urban legend, but in fact there is a good deal of fact to support it. Exposing children to music early in their lives causes neurons in the brain to fire, thus linking them to other neurons, forming connections called synapses. The more synapses created, and the more precise the firings, the better the chance a baby has of performing well intellectually.

The music area of the brain is close to the math area, and stimulation of either area helps in the development of complex thought processes.

"Synapses can’t wait—birth to four years is the ideal time to expose children to music"
- Princeton Review

Playing Mozart's music to a baby in hopes that her brain will become better hardwired seems like an obvious theory - but is it the perfect match?

Studies have shown that playing most forms of classical music can create a more positive environment and therefore can be beneficial, however - if you want to specifically prepare your baby's brain for enhanced spatial-temporal reasoning (understanding and being able to SEE the concepts behind math) - then you need to look deeper than just any classical music.

Specifically, a baby's brain is an enormous potential, just sitting there, waiting to understand things. Science now knows that Mozart's music is a "key" that opens the door to higher math understanding and is matched to a college-level brain. Therefore it follows that a baby's brain - being much simpler and lacking fundamental understanding - would experience the same higher level of understanding while hearing music that is equally suited.

From Kung Fu to a Genuine Genius

How to be Genius by The Bruce Lee Kick-Ass Kung Fu Exercise ?

1. Sit upright on a chair - a dining chair is ideal.

2. Locate the zhongji vital point which is about midway between your belly button and your genitals. Hold your left palm about 2 inches (5 cm) in front of it.

3. Hold your right palm about 2 inches (5 cm) in front of your left nipple. Keep your shoulders and elbows relaxed.

4. Breathe naturally. Naturally means as you would breathe if you weren't thinking about your breathing ie. no gasping, no breathing like a bellows! Just gentle and easy breathing.

5. Mentally count your inhalations 120 times, simultaneously visualising a radiant warm light flowing from your anus (the huiyin vital point) to the crown of your head (the bahui vital point).

6. Mentally count your exhalations 120 times, while visualising the warm light flowing out of the back of your head at the mid-point between your ears (the yuzhen vital point), and also flowing from your right palm onto your heart. It sounds more complicated than it is. You'll get the hang of it! Your outbreaths should be long, easy and gentle.

7. Next, move your left hand slowly up until its just hovering over the crown of your head (the bahui). Gently rotate your hand in an anti-clockwise direction 49 times. Visualise or imagine the warm light being drawn back from the crown of your head (the bahui).

8. Slowly lower your left hand back to your abdomen and imagine the warm light flowing back down to your abdomen.

9. Locate a point about three fingers width below your belly button . Place your left palm about 2 inches (5 cm) over that point, and put your right hand on your left and just imagine the warm radiant light gathering to a focus there in your abdomen filling you with Bruce Lee brilliance!

10. When you have finished massage your face and then walk around the room vigorously for about 20 seconds. You are ready to do some kick-ass thinking!

Infant Stimulation

Recent advances in brain-imaging techniques have proven what researchers have said for over twenty years: an infant's environment has a dramatic affect on brain development.

In the first years of your baby's life, the brain is busy building its wiring system. Activity in the brain creates tiny electrical connections called synapses. The amount of stimulation your baby receives has a direct affect on how many synapses are formed. Repetitive stimulation strengthens these connections and makes them permanent , whereas young connections that don't get used eventually die out.

These first years are a very important and pivotal time for a developing young brain. This intense period of brain growth and network building happens only once in a lifetime. We as parents have a brief but golden opportunity to help our babies stimulate the formation of brain circuitry. Here are some fascinating facts that researchers have discovered:

* Babies have a biological need and desire to learn
* The foundational networking of the brain's synapses is nearly complete after the rapid brain development of the first 3 years.
* The more stimulating experiences you can give your baby means the more circuitry that is built for enhanced learning in the future.
* Babies have a definite preference for high contrast images.
* The amount of connections in the brain can increase or decrease by 25 percent depending on the environment and stimulation.
* Visual stimulation can produce developmental advantages including enhanced curiosity, attentiveness and concentration.
* Your baby's best toy is you! Interact with your baby as much as possible!

Things you can do to stimulate your baby

* Love. First of all, remember love and affection are very real needs. Your baby is never trying to manipulate or control you, she simply has a biological need for your love...never deny her your tender affection. This unconditional love also creates a strong self-esteem and increased development of brain circuitry.
* Talk to your baby often with a kind voice, a wide range of vocabulary, and a lot of expression. Your voice is her favorite sound (she has heard it since before she was born).
* Respond to your babies requests (interpreted cries) without hesitation. This teaches her that she can communicate with other people and gives her a strong sense of trust and emotional stability.
* Touch your baby. Researchers discovered that premature infants that were massaged grew faster, cried less, and were released earlier from the hospital than those who weren't.
* Encourage imitation. Your baby is constantly analyzing you and figuring out ways to mimic your voice and facial expressions.
* Let your baby experience different surroundings: go for walks, take her places, show her the sites!
* Let your baby explore different textures and temperatures (not too extreme, of course). Provide a safe environment for your baby to explore. She also needs time to discover things for herself.
* Read books: even though your baby can't follow the story, she loves the pictures and the sound of your voice.
* Play music.
* When you get frustrated because your baby keeps dropping objects or pours the box of cereal on the floor, remember, she is trying to figure out how the world operates.