With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
With 10+ apps and plugins, you’ll be able to review your upcoming tasks – and jot down new ones – no matter where you happen to be. Everything stays in perfect sync across… Read more
You must have heard of the old adage, “If you love your job, you wouldn’t have to work a day in your life” and it applies to children too! The love for learning can make them love every single activity, every single subject, and every single learning opportunity. Imagine your child being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed about learning, would you ever need to worry about their academic performance?
What are needed to kickstart the love for learning?
Working memory is used to hold multiple information at the same time. For example, I gave you 3 apples, you ate 1 and bought another 4, how many apples do you have? Your working memory is actively engaged in order to hold and process the information given.
Children who have good working memory are able to handle complicated tasks like “picking up their shoes, putting it onto the shoe rack, before queuing up to enter the classroom” all as per instructed by the teacher. These may sound easy but children with weak working memory might “line up immediately without picking up the shoes”, or, “pick up the shoe and queue up without going to the shoe rack”.
Children with good working memory therefore excel in the classroom and are more motivated for new challenges ahead.
With so many things to learn and so many stimulants to handle everyday, it is stressful and taxing to the little brain. Enhancing on the mental flexibility of the child can help them learn to handle different situations using different “gears”, therefore, maneuvring safely and confidently around “obstacles”.
A child with poor mental flexibility might find it really hard to share, because he is used to playing with a toy his way. When another child comes along wanting to play together, he gets all uncomfortable, not able to process the new situation nor come out with a new playing method, thus cries out loud.
Mental Flexibility helps a child adapt to new situations and pick up new knowledge readily.
“Naughty”, “Hyper”, “Not focused”…
If these phrases sound familiar to you, no worries, they are used extensively on most children. It’s not their fault, children are meant to explore, play and be active. All that they need to learn are rules and boundaries. As soon as they are able to self-regulate their behaviour and manage their emotions according to the rules, they will be able to enjoy school and look forward to a great learning journey every day.
A heightened inhibitory control will allow your child to focus in class, capture teacher’s instructions and learn effectively. Imagine the praises they will get because of that.
Want to know more about how to improve your child’s working memory, mental flexibility and inhibitory control? Join us at our parenting workshop!
Date: 12 Oct 2019, Saturday
Time: 3 to 5pm
Venue: Westgate, #04-09 (beside Jurong East MRT station)
Congratulations! Now that your child has been selected for the GEP program, what’s next for him/her?
It might be an extremely straightforward answer for some parents but not so for some others. My opinion is, go for it. Reasons being:
PROS:
(Source: https://www.moe.gov.sg/education/programmes/gifted-education-programme/enrichment-model)
CONS:
For those parents who think that the GEP program will be extremely beneficial for their children, they are right. The program will bring children beyond what they are capable of and help them reach their peak potential.
However, you are NOT advised to “train” your child for GEP by signing up for GEP-training classes at centers that claim to “create” GEP students because talent, although can be groomed, cannot be “naturalised” into a child. Meaning, if your child is not naturally prepared for the high demands of the GEP program, you will only do more harm than benefits by artificially fitting your child into the GEP program. Think of the stress the child has to go through just to remain in that GEP class you have planted her/him into. If it works out, good for him/her. If it doesn’t, the poor kid suffers the repercussion for life.
Once again, congratulations for being the parent of a gifted child, embrace the learning journey with your child, support her/him throughout the program and remind them of the importance of effort to achieve great success in life.
It’s easy to blame your child for the bad results he received.
“Why didn’t you pay attention in class?!”
“You don’t know and you didn’t ask?!”
“What were you doing when the teacher was teaching?!”
These might have been your first thoughts but it’s really unfair for you to blame your child for her bad results simply because:
Let me give you a simple example, which of the following is correct?
a) An FBI agent
b) A FBI agent
If your answer is “a”, you are wrong. Because “F” is read as /effe/, which is sounded with an /e/ at the beginning thus you use an “an” in front of it (It’s actually not about the spelling but the sounds of the first syllable.).
If you got it right, good for you, you are one of the lucky ones who had gotten a great English teacher when you were young.
Now try this:
____________ more dustbins in school ___________ in reducing littering?
1) does, help 3) do, helps
2) do, help 4) does, helps
The answer is option 1). It is a real examination question picked out from a Primary 6 SA2 examination paper. This kind of question is not something that you will know how to answer without the guidance of a good English teacher and definitely not something that is taught actively in the textbook or even in class. However, they do, somehow, find their way into the test papers.
To help your child, start them young. Be reasonable in your expectations of your child’s results. Right from Primary 1, do not scold them for the bad results. I’ve seen so many children who have tried forging signatures, hiding test papers, crying in school because they didn’t want to go home to their parents with their bad scores. Don’t give your children the undue stress that they are already facing on a daily basis. It’s not their fault to have done badly, they don’t know what they were not taught. Even if they were taught, they are not experts of the topic yet and therefore failure is simply one of the paths they had to walk on in their learning journey.
When you receive your child’s papers, look into it, analyse it, see what the problems are, be understanding and seek help for him/her. That’s only fair for your child.
Hugs are forms of affirmation and affection for the child to feel loved. In the Asian context, the words “I love you” might not come out easily therefore making “hugs” even more important as an alternative to show affection especially after a harsh punishment.
No parents enjoy punishing their children, but when the need arises, it is vital it is executed swiftly and with perfect orchestration.
Firstly, it must be pre-warned that a punishment is coming, but when the warning didn’t work, the punishment must be meted out. Once punishment is meted out, the child must always apologise for the misbehaviour and parents MUST hug them to let them know that they are punished because
When hugs do not follow a harsh punishment, children will be left thinking
Hugging increases the bonding hormone oxytocin, allowing the child to bond back together with the parent again after receiving the punishment. Hugs also help to reduce the stress that they encounter while receiving the punishment. All the crying and begging not to be punished release lots of stress hormones that require the release of hormones like oxytocin to counter the negative effects.
When we hug our child affectionately after a punishment, the child will feel a sense of acceptance by the parent again and not be left to self-doubt and self-blame. This sense of acceptance is very important in affecting their overall growth and development.
A child who feels accepted and loved develops better learning ability as compared to a child who feels unaccepted and unloved. This is because the child is able to boost his self-esteem and confidence from feeling good about himself as well as his environment regardless of the mistakes that he may make. This thus helps the child develop the confidence to tackle the world’s challenges and not be afraid to make mistakes.
Don’t be afraid to mete out punishments, just remember to wrap it up with a warm and affectionate hug to encourage a positive environment for optimal growth and development.
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
