All children possess incredible intelligence, but in some cases it is yet to be tapped into. A common mistake parents make is labelling their child as one type of learner.
Children have a range of approaches to tasks, which are commonly referred to as learning styles. There are many learning styles and your child can express all of them, making it important to provide children with multiple ways to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
Wondering how to help your child excel? Here are some helpful hints for building your child’s strengths and self-esteem.
Use Your Words
Children often demonstrate intelligence verbally. To encourage verbal intelligence, try introducing regular reading time and trips to the library. You can also encourage them to keep a journal, or you can simply ask your child to tell you a story about their day in the car trip home from school.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Children who show interest in art are often referred to as visual learners. To nurture this intelligence, try creative activities like sculpting, painting, drawing, and collage. If your child is tech-savvy, let him/her loose on your iPad with apps which let them colour and create.
Let’s Get Physical
Sporty children aren’t always considered intelligent children. The sporty stereotype can be very harmful: it takes intelligence to kick a goal and discipline to cross a finish line.
A child who shows keen interest in sports is demonstrating physical intelligence. There are many activities that can help with developing your child’s physical knowledge and abilities. If they are very young, spend lots of time at the playground and challenge them with things like rock climbing. If they are school-aged, build their self-esteem by offering ample opportunities to excel in the sport they love, which can be anything from dancing to table tennis.
Logical Learners
If your child loves puzzles and board games, they are demonstrating logical and reasoning intelligence. Children who display logical intelligence, often enjoy Maths and Science, and are excellent problem solvers. These skills can be exercised through activities which allow a child to read and analyse. Great examples of this include cooking from a recipe or reading and playing sheet music.
Sounds Like Fun to Me
Auditory intelligence is displayed by children who respond to music and sound-driven stimulus. If your child responds to audible stimuli but doesn’t love music, try reading to them, or equipping them with interactive apps and computer games with exciting sound cues.
Let Social Butterflies Spread Their Wings
It is easy to spot social learners. they are outgoing children who are constantly mixing with others. They benefit from clubs and teams and often make engaging public speakers. To help your social butterfly’s interpersonal skills blossom, get them involved in subjects like drama and activities like debating. For younger children, make sure you organise regular play dates.
Leave Me Alone, I’m Learning
Children who choose to work alone should not be confused with loners. For shy children, independent learning can nurture self-esteem. Independent children will learn best in one-to-one situations. In this case, study buddies are useful. In terms of play, educational apps and computer games can help them develop confidence. Depending on their physical aptitude, you could also trial independent sports like swimming or gymnastics.
Mix and Match
Some children don’t excel in one learning style, instead they explore many. These children should be encouraged to experience many areas, and though they may not excel in any, the path they choose has the potential to lead them to wonderful careers. Mix and match activities from different learning styles and stay in touch with your child’s feelings. If they love sport and socialising, combine them in team sports. If they are confident speakers and socialisers, try things like choir and musical theatre.
All children blossom when nurtured and given time and opportunities, making it essential to build on a child’s self-esteem by supporting their strengths.
Looking for more ways to connect with your kids at home?
Sign up to our newsletter for the latest buzz on learning, fun, and tech talk sildenafilcitrateotc for children.
