6 Habits of Highly Effective Parents
There’s no one way to raise a kid right. But there are a few things that many of the most successful parents do. Here are some habits that the best parents develop.
Children’s emotional/social/intellectual skills are like a muscle.
Parents can exercise or atrophy them.
Here are the 6 habits of highly effective parents:
Talk to Your Kids:
Average conversation length strongly correlates with children’s IQ’s and reading ability.
Note: 88-98% of words children use by the age of 3 are from their parents’ vocabularies. The more you talk to your children, the higher their functional vocabulary.
Read to Your Kids:
Studies show that children whose parents read to them for at least 20 minutes a day are as much as a grade level ahead of other kids by age 15.
Note: reading levels by third grade predict high school success. Start early!
Let Your Kids Play:
Play fosters executive function skills.
Executive function is the ability to self regulate, enhanced working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, reasoning and problem solving.
Note: In Finland, one of the top ranked education systems in the world, kids take 15 minute unstructured breaks after 45 minutes of instruction.
Limit TV Time:
1+ hours of TV a day
= trouble concentrating and succeeding at school.
Children under 2 should not watch television.
Do you want your kids exposed to…
Worse Health?
The Average child watches 20,000 advertisements yearly. 34% of which are for sugary cereals.
Other Effects:
Overloads visual portion of brain, destroys creativity.
Foster the Little Artists:
You’ve probably seen it:
When asked who’s an artist–
Kindergarten: all kids raise their hands. “Me, me me me!”
1st Grade: Everyone raises a timid hand
5th Grade: 3 or 4 kids in a class raise hands, unsure.
Creativity is as much the confidence to create as the skills to be a creator.
Snuggle up!
Touching, rocking, talking, smiling, and singing function as nourishment for young children… laying the foundation of a healthy and well developed brain.
Citations:
- http://centerforeducation.rice.edu/slc/LS/30MillionWordGap.html
- http://www.publicschoolreview.com/articles/225
- http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865552992/Make-your-kids-smart-habits-of-highly-effective-parents.html?pg=all
- http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/
- http://depts.washington.edu/tvhealth/materials/third-party-resources/TV-Children-Television-Health-Development.pdf
- http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/school-readiness/qa/can-holding-cuddling-and-eye-contact-help-babies-grow-and-develop.html
