Kindergarten Activities: The Listening Game – for Teaching Effective Listening and Clear Communication

In Mind in the Making, Ellen Galinsky refers to 7 essential life skills that every child needs to be taught. Two of those skills are “perspective taking” and “communicating”. Part of perspective taking involves being able to listen – a task that can be quite challenging for young children. In the Tools of the Mind program,

LEGO Benefits Children in Many Ways

LEGO is a toy that spans generations. As children, we’ve played with LEGO, and now we hand the baton over to our children. Well, some of us anyway. Others remain big kids in the LEGO world. There have been complaints that LEGO is no longer the toy that we grew up with because the sets are

10 Ways to Raise Happy Kids

If you want to know how to raise happier children, there is an excellent overview article on Time: How to Raise Happy Kids: 10 Steps Backed by Science. Get Happy Yourself – because happy parent = happy kids Proven ways to being happy 10 Mindful Minutes – Giving Our Children–and Ourselves–the Social and Emotional Skills to Reduce Stress

Early Childhood Precociousness is Not an Indication of Giftedness

A friend recently forwarded to me an article on giftedness and it talks about a subject that I think is very relevant today, especially with the increasing awareness that parents have on early childhood development. Many parents have clued in on early enrichment and the impact it can have on a child’s development. Add to that

Lessons from Suzuki: How to Ignite and Inspire a Child’s Interest

I have been reading Shinichi Suzuki’s book “Ability Development from Age Zero” in preparation for the day when I will start Hercules on the Suzuki Method. I know I’ve been waxing lyrical about the wisdom of Suzuki but truly this man really is all that. Everything he writes is common sense and yet so easily

The Power of Play: Why Playing is Important for Healthy Child Development

The Importance of Play “It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.” – Leo F. Buscaglia Play is an essential part of growing up but many parents are losing sight on its importance as they succumb

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

One of the cardinal rules of parenting is “don’t compare your children”. Well, it’s kind of hard not to when people are constantly pointing things out to you that you’ve already observed but deliberately avoided commenting upon. If we must observe their differences, let’s look at the positives of their individual differences… Aristotle was very

Raising Happy, Confident and Successful Children – Part 3

I wanted to share a comment from a post I wrote earlier: “Recently talked with a friend, who has 3 kids (2 boys 5-6yrs & 1 girl 2yrs). The boys are in some playschool kindergarten since 3 yrs old, and the school is Montessori type less focus on academic. My friend told me, he was

Books: Welcome to Your Child’s Brain

Welcome to Your Child’s Brain is the latest on my booklist for parents on “scientific parenting”. Other notable books on the reading list (if you haven’t already read them) are “The Science of Parenting“, “Nurture Shock” and “Brain Rules for Baby“. There is a current version of Welcome to Your Child’s Brain available already, but

Neurobiology, Trauma, and Child Development

This article is in two parts. The first part discusses neurobiology and child development and the second part covers trauma and child development. Both provide information on what children need from adults in order to thrive in good times and difficult times. Topics covered include common childhood neurological conditions such as autism, ADHD, and fetal