Mind Magic: One Trick for Boosting Brain Power

10/17/24 • 7 min

Proactive Parenting with Deanna Marie Mason PhD

Have you ever wondered if there is an easy way to boost your child’s brainpower and make him or her smarter? Luckily, the research shows that one simple, practically free, activity can help your child use his or her brain more effectively.

Most parents know that reading to children can have an important affect on how early kiddos learn to read independently and how well they perform in school. Reading to children from birth onwards has always been linked to better learning outcomes. However, current research shows how reading stimulates the brain and creates this change. MRI studies confirm that reading stimulates the brain to improve the way it creates meaning from language. Even more interesting is that these brain changes, from being read to, leads to improved reading skills and advanced language development.

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Sanity Savers: Handling Your Kid's Difficult Friends in 3 Steps

A great thing about our kiddos getting older is that our children become exposed to many different ways of being a family. At school they mix with children from other backgrounds, other types of families, and learn that there are many different ways of being a family. This makes them tolerant, accepting, and more open, which are fabulous traits for their futures. Yet, many times our children may seek out friends who appear to be similar to them, such as speak the same language natively, look similar to them, or play the same sport. When external characteristics become the defining traits to start friendships, the more important characteristics such as honesty, compassion, or fairness may be forgotten.

As a parent, this can mean that, at times, our child has invited over a friend that does not fit our ideal image of who we want our child playing with. The children may speak the same language or play the same sport, but the children are worlds apart in terms of upbringing, values, and norms of behavior. The situation may be even more complex if the problematic friend is the son or daughter of a colleague or someone seen frequently at school events or activities.

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Travel Tots: Tips for Flying with Little Ones

Today’s episode stems from a question I received from a listener. A first-time mom of a 4-month-old infant asked me if I knew any science-based tips to help them manage air travel with an infant. She said she had traveled often for work and was frequently surprised that parents couldn’t seem to control their infants on flights. Now that she was a mother, she better understood that no one can control babies. But, she hoped that there were some suggestions on how to help parents and babies manage flights with less stress.
As we know, modern life often requires plane travel for families. As this listener shared, frequent travelers know the dread when a flight is full of infants or small children. And, anyone who flies with any regularity has a story of a flight that was filled with continuous ear piercing screams of an infant or small child.

This awareness can be horrifying for parents when they must fly with their infant or small children. Luckily, some basic information and a good dose of humor will help most parents navigate air travel with infants and small children successfully. I assure you, there is no need to feel overwhelmed or shamed. All you need is the right information to help make everything easier.

Proactive Parenting with Deanna Marie Mason PhD - Mind Magic: One Trick for Boosting Brain Power

Transcript

Hello and welcome to another episode of Proactive Parenting. Remember, this is a judgement-free space to learn how to raise value-driven kids in a way that is right for your family, using the most current scientific research out there.

I’m your host, Dr. Deanna Marie Mason. I’m a certified pediatric nurse practitioner, published author, and a professional who has devoted my career to studying and using child development to help parents manage childhood issues.

So, grab a cup