Parents are told that we have the power to make our children smarter by playing certain music, or buying specific toys, or signing them up for special activities. Unfortunately, in our quest to help our kids be successful, we are running ourselves - and our kids - ragged.
Psychologist Kathy Hirsh-Pasek has some good news for exhausted parents: allowing your kids free time to play may be the best thing you'll ever do for them. With Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, she has written a book called, "Einstein Never Used Flash Cards: How our Children REALLY Learn - And Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less."
She explains that kids need free time to play so they can discover their own creativity; playing and talking with your children will aid their development more than anything else you can possibly do, as well. Hirsh-Pasek visits The Early Show to offer four simple things you can do to help develop your child's creativity and further their learning.
Eat Dinner Together: Over dinner, the family has 20 minutes or so to talk with few interruptions. "These occasions become contexts for learning," Kathy writes. "We sequence our daily events to recount them, encouraging the development of memory and narrative." When you ask kids about their days, their answers require some creative thought. Kathy cautions that you must ask specific questions. Did you paint at school today? What did you draw? What colors did you use? What did your friend Jenny draw? Was it fun? From these answers your child is not only developing memory and narrative, he is talking about colors and shapes and feelings and friends. Dinner is also a great opportunity for you to model behavior for your kids.
Find Unstructured Family Time: Dinner is a predictable, fairly structured activity. Set aside other times to play together as a family. Decree a game night or go for a walk. On your walk see what catches your child's eye and talk to her about it or make up a story about it. This is an opportunity for your child to let her imagination run wild and for you to be along for the ride. Remember to let your child remain in control of play time, follow her lead.
Read Aloud: Don't underestimate the importance of reading to your kids - the National Academy of Education Commission on Reading says that reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for ensuring success in learning to read. But just reading is not enough - you need to really engage your kids. Ask them questions about what they see on the pages, what they think may happen next and how they think the characters are feeling. And don't just ask questions you're certain they can answer. Push them a little bit beyond what they can do on their own.
Limit TV And Videos: Parents hear this all the time; it's not a surprising piece of advice. However, what is a bit unusual is that Kathy extends this advice to include educational TV and videos such as "Sesame Street" and "Barney." TV is not inherently bad, she explained, but it is passive. Your child learns more by doing than by watching. Kids watching TV don't come up with fantasy games; they are not interacting with other kids. They are being handed entertainment instead of learning to entertain themselves.
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