To be smart means to exhibit cleverness, intelligent behaviour and intellectual knowledge. Every parent would love to have a smart child but in order to achieve this, there is need to invest time and energy in child development. Peer group, environment and multimedia have effect on a child but parents have the greatest influence. Here are some vital things to do to make a child smart.
Feed your child well. It is recommended everywhere in the world that a new born baby needs six months of exclusive breast milk to protect her from illness. As the baby grows up, she needs balance diet to build the brain, bone and muscle. Fish, egg and meat help to create alertness. Avoid over feeding your baby because too much of food makes one to be obese, dizzy and sleep often.
Sing rhymes, play and talk about anything and everything with your baby. Learning experience begins immediately a baby is born. Baby needs constant interactions by parents and people around her. Don't just put your baby in a cot and attend to her only when she is hungry or needs to change her clothes or diaper. Show objects, people, animals, structures and tell her about them. Also play with her with numbers and alphabets.
Let your child to play. Some parents do confine their child in the house. This will make her lack social skills. Allow her to explore her environment and play with other children. By doing this, she is creating her intellectual, social, physical and emotional skills. If you meet me in person, you will hardly believe that I was brought up in a ghetto area. I was allowed to play like every other kid. All you need to do is just to watch the company your child keeps and let her know what is right and what is wrong. As Albert Einstein said, "Play is the highest form of research."
Limit the time of watching television. Too much of T.V is not good for the brain. Instead of watching T.V allow your child to do some important things like exercise which increases the flow of oxygen to the brain and thus makes one to be alert throughout the day. You can also tell her folktales and ask questions on it.
Make reading a habit for your child. Read to your child regularly when she can't read yet. This will make her to be eager to learn how to read as long as you make it fun. Every child likes to imitate adult. So you must be a good role model by reading regularly too. This will make your child to pick up books and read whenever she is free. Whatever you like doing is what your child will also like doing. When a child starts reading early like three or four years old, she will grow up to become very intelligent. Oprah Winfrey, a media magnate and philanthropist was taught to read by her grand mother at the age of 3. This started a famous love of books.
Ask your child open ended questions. Open ended increases one reasoning and covers all aspect of life. It is applicable to 2 years old children and upward. Let's say you are in the supermarket doing shopping, you can ask your child this question. If I take one orange from four, how many oranges will I have left?
You are walking down the street and it suddenly starts to rain, you can ask. How does water get to the sky and fall as rain?
You are in the church listening to sermon, you can ask. What do you think will happen if Jesus comes back to earth?
You are reading a newspaper, ask, if you were the president, how will you rule your country?
Allow your child to take risk and fail. For example, of your child falls down whenever she tries to rode a bicycle, don't stop her from trying because she injures herself. She will be afraid of trying out on something new if you over protect her. "A man that has never failed has never tried anything new". Failure is part of life. She needs to learn to fail and succeed on anything she lays her hand on by been persistence on it. If you over protect your child, she will grow up to become a coward.
Let your child to get enough rest. A child needs 8-10 hours of sleep at night and rest when she is tired during the day. Over working your child will not make her to be brilliant. There should be time to work, play and rest. Remember, "all work no play makes Jack a dull boy". Not getting enough rest also contribute to obesity. Getting enough rest makes the brain to function properly and one to be active during the day.
Allow your child to be bored. Boredom is usually seen as a negative thing, well it is not that bad. It encourages child ability to think. Boredom is a time for the brain to develop and become more creative. Inventors use this time to find creative solutions to people's problems.
Surround your child with educative and interesting story books and games. Create a library in your house and stock it with colourful and interesting story books. Secrets of the world is in books. A child learns about people, places and things by reading. Play games like Scrabble, Checkers, Sudoku and Chess with your child. She will learn to be patient, a good strategist and understand life as a whole.
Go through your child school work and assist her on her home work. Some parents make mistake by not checking their child's work only to find out later that she is not doing fine at school. a child could be prevented fro getting dull if the parents are passionate about her education. She parents provide answers for their child instead of allowing the child to reason. Some parents even write for their child which is very bad. Parents are to assist, guide and explain the difficult aspects to the child.Rushing to provide answer or writing for a child will make her to become lazy and dull.
Reward and praise your child hard work. When a child is given gift for doing well, she tends to do better. Reward intermittently so that your child don't depend on it for persistence. Praising your child for effort help your child see herself as being in control of her success. Praising your child for "being smart" may discourage for doing hard tasks because failing may conflict with her self image of being smart. You can praise your child effort like this, "I like the way you tried a lot of different strategies on the math problem until you finally got it".
Your child needs exposure. Expose her to things that develops her positively. This include cooking, field trips, cultures, sports and arts. Let her see things the way they are done and practicalise it herself. This will make it easy for her to choose her life career which she can easily focus on and be successful in. Aliko Dangote, the richest man in Nigeria, discovers his talent for business when he was in primary school. He used to buy sweet and sell at school. Lionel Messi, five times world best player, was discovered at the tender age of 12. Barcelona FC, had to cater for him and his family relocation to Spain. Messi had stunted growth problem then. All his medication was pad by the club.
Have a lot of patient with your child. You child may provoke you at times, just try to be cool or just laugh it off. She may turn up the house upside down or destroy expensive things. Get down to her level and talk about what she did. Punish her moderately if necessary. Avoid over reacting because it can make her to loose her confidence or even become more troublesome.
