Have you ever observed your child and noticed that she is good in something? For example, when my eldest son was about two years old, I noticed that he was good in manipulating gadgets around the house. He knew how to play his favorite video “Baby Einstein” on the video player whenever he felt like it. Nowadays, he is so much better at operating the hand-phone or camera compared to me.
It is often mentioned that to maximize your child’s ability or potential, she must be given the opportunities to develop her skills. Below are some suggestions on what parents can do to help their children.
* Do you have a musical child?
- Sing and play music in the house or in the car.
- Buy her musical instruments for her to practice or make musical instruments using household things like the saucepans, wooden spoons, etc.
- Dance to the music.
- Read nursery rhymes or sing children’s songs with her.
- Record her singing or music and play it back.
photo credit: Divine in the Daily
* Do you have a sporty child?
- Encourage physical activities like outdoor games of football, bicycling, swimming, etc.
- Introduce a variety of games that involve walking, running, jumping, catching and kicking.
- Make up games like throwing a ball into a laundry basket.
- Always encourage your child even though she may missed hitting a ball in order to create enthusiasm and confidence.
* Do you have a creative child?
- Provide your child with different materials to play with like paints, putties, clay or dough, ribbons, wools, etc.
- Introduce various crafts like painting, modeling, paper-crafts, etc.
- Let your child play with watercolors, do finger painting, crayons, etc.
- Let her collect things like seashells from the beach, leaves or flowers from the garden to make a collage for example.
* Do you have a thinking child?
- You can read and talk to her. Have proper conversations with her.
- Introduce teaching games like role-playing to expand her knowledge.
- Provide opportunities for stimulation and interaction through normal daily activities and games. For example, a game of matching colors where she has to spot or find objects with the same color around the house.
photo credit: di_the_huntress
You may have your own methods of nurturing and bringing out your child’s potential. If you have a creative game to share here, please add your comments to let other parents know.