Hi all,
I came across this article while searching for this book. If anybody has a copy or has gone through the book, would you mind sharing the ideas?
Karma to all!!!
This is what I could gather.
Extract from Brain Child by Tony Buzan.
Brain Child’s thesis is that the parents, friends, the surrounding environment and the school are the
prime factors in the architecture of the child’s intellectual, physical and emotional being, and that
with the appropriate knowledge the parents, especially, can help direct their child to paradise.
“Nurture is the primary factor in developing (or not) a child’s latent potentials…There is no question
in my mind that given the right stimulation and the correct nurturing environment, every child can
manifest his or her genius. And, most importantly, grow up to be a fulfilled and happy human being.
…Tony Buzan
• Nurture! Take the approach that everything and anything (positive) that you can do for
your child can and will make a difference. Think of yourself as a force for positive influence
on your child’s life.
• Make sure your child gets the four brain foods - Oxygen, Nutrition, Love and Information.
• Create a home that is rich in different colours and textures, where music is a constant
feature and where people talk to one another, where play for all ages happens around the
clock and where there is laughter on a daily basis.
• Encourage the development of your baby’s ambidexterity by getting them to do things with
both hands at the same time – such as picking up food and feeding himself, holding and
manipulating crayons. Encourage them to reverse every left/right function, including sporting
activities, play and as many other activities as you can think of.
• Teach them to Mind Map as soon as they can hold a pen. Mind Maps allow their brains to
see known images (‘a picture is worth a thousand words’) and their associations and
interrelationships without the ‘interference’ of grammar and semantics. The Mind Map has been
called ‘ the Swiss army knife for the brain’ and for the young child is a wonderful tool to allow
her to ‘open up’ and explore the realms of memory, learning, creative thinking, analysis,
preparation for school work, review and self-expression.
• Wherever and whenever you can, allow your baby to go without shoes. If you do need to
cover your baby’s feet while she is out of doors, use soft fabric slippers with non-slip soles and
loosely fitting socks.
• Expose your baby to a large range of words (both aural and written). You can start by talking
and singing to them, include them in conversations at meal times.
• Teach your baby how to read. Get your child interested in books from an early age. Sit your
baby on your lap and ‘read’ colourful board books when she is just a few months old.
• Make sure words are regularly linked to images. A good way to start is to look at picture
board books with your four-month-old, pointing at the pictures as you read or tell the
story. Read bedtime stories every night.
• Make counting a fun part of daily play. If you are walking down the road, you can count the
trees, paving stones, or lamp posts as you go along.
• Play Mind Sports with your child, especially those such as jigsaw puzzles, draughts, chess
and the Japanese/Chinese game of Go.
For details contact Jennifer Goddard, Director, Buzan Centre: Australia Phone +61 3 9572 5344
• At a very early stage, teach your child the directions of the compass (give them a beautiful
one as a present) in conjunction with map reading. When you are out together, ask him to help
find the way. This will make him feel useful and purposeful as well as assisting his spatial
intelligence.
• Encourage both sensory exploration and expression. You can do this by letting your child
compare different textures that exist in the home. Let him search for the softest-feeling
thing in the house (the sheep-skin rug or your best pashmina), followed by the roughest
(your nail brush or pot scourer).
• When you are cooking, let them kneed pastry, sift flour with his fingers, or wash lentils
under running water.
• Play physical games with your baby/child on a daily basis (this has the added advantage
of keeping you fitter as well).
• Play games in which you and your child imagine what it is like to be a rich person, a poor
person, a spider, a seagull etc. Such games increase the child’s creative intelligence, by
teaching the all-important creative skills of multiple perspectives.
• Try to have your baby learn at least one additional language before the age of three, and
make sure that that language is maintained throughout childhood.
• Eat as balanced and as natural diet as possible.
• Encourage your child to notice smells. Smell flowers when you are walking, sniff the salty
breezes when you are on holiday and savour the smell of fresh bread when you are at the
bakers.
• Play discrimination games with different fragrances. Oils, perfumes and fruit essences
make good laboratories - try playing a blindfolded guessing game.
• Play memory games, especially those in which you uncover 20 items, leave them exposed for
a minute and then cover them again, the task being to remember as many as possible.
• Provide toys that stimulate, expand and encourage the development of her imagination.
Used yoghurt pots, egg cartons, washing-up bottles, measuring jugs and a plethora of other
kitchen items can be used in the child’s imaginative play.
• Play association games. From quite an early age, your child will delight in ‘silly word
associations’ and this will develop their sense of humour, too.
• Frequently point out your child’s uniqueness to him, in a positive way. For example “I’ve
never known anyone else with your …”
• Make sure that the ‘fear of failure’ is absent from your child’s learning processes.
Parents who say ‘be careful’ all the time are not helping their child be safe; they are destroying
his self confidence.
• Try to use positive language with your child at all times. Monitor your own vocabulary for
positive and negative effects on the child.
• Learn to draw yourself and allow your child to mimic. Supply your child’s bedroom/study
area with coloured pens, crayons, blank drawing and art paper of all sizes, paintbrushes, little
easels, introductory books on art and drawing and beautifully illustrated books of the great
artists.
• Contact your local Suzuki Music School and allow your child to experiment with different
objects that can be used as percussion, wind, string and horn instruments.
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