Brain scientists believe that 0-5 years old is the golden growth period of children’s brain, which determines their future. So to make our children smarter, we should make some efforts at this stage. To get the most out of your child’s brain potential, you must first create a safe enough environment for him. Every skill that human beings have evolved to avoid their own extinction. So the brain is no exception, and only when the need for safety is met can the brain go on to learn all kinds of knowledge. After creating a safe enough environment for children’s brains, what else do we need to do? The famous American brain scientist John Medina gave four specific recommendations: 1, breastfeeding This does not even need to be said, countless studies have confirmed that breast milk is the magic ammunition for babies, where there are magical substances that promote brain development, bringing nutrition and strong immune support to children. At the same time, it also gives babies enough emotional support. This, too, is something that mothers must be trying as hard as they can. But in my personal opinion, mothers who are unable to do so because of objective reasons do not have to be too anxious and obsessed. Because your emotions will be transmitted to your baby, they will feel the uneasiness from the mother, which will affect the development of his brain more. Remember, security is always the first thing for your baby. 2, talk to your child Compared to children who have little communication with mom and dad, children who have regular quality communication with mom and dad have at least twice as much vocabulary; after school, these children also have much better reading, spelling and writing skills than the former. So from the time your baby is born, we need to talk to him as much as possible. Say whatever you want. When babies are little, you may find it a little boring because they don’t give much feedback yet, but they’re actually listening. Before I was a year old, I was always extra frustrated telling my son picture book stories, he either tore them up or chewed on them, or else pounded on his own, and it was like I was telling stories to air. At one point I gave up, until I read a British study to continue, you think your baby is not listening, in fact, he listened to a lot of it. Of course nothing should be overdone, and if the child is already tired, there is little need for you to harp on it. In communication, it is also important how you say things. Please look at your child and try to imitate their words, laughter and expressions. Then encourage them to talk with our heightened attention. This will help a lot with brain development. 3.Open-ended activities Open-ended activities are relative to closed-ended activities. Unlike closed activities where play is limited (like toys), it is varied and allows children to discover and use their imagination and creativity. I’m sure you’ve encountered a situation similar to mine, where you hand your child a new toy (especially when he’s young) and he’s not as excited about the toy itself as you might think, but is instead interested in the box that isn’t the toy. So now, in addition to my son’s favorite car, I have not bought him any new toys for a long time. Because those empty plastic bottles, broken telephone let him play, the big cardboard box for delivery is what he sees fun. (For example, he fills plastic bottles with water and rice; he hides in cardboard boxes and plays hide and seek with me; or he paints on cardboard boxes. In short, he will come up with all kinds of ways to play and have fun.) And those “toys” that he buys, he’s only interested in for three minutes. Research says that open-ended activities lead to better language skills, better problem solving, better stress management and better memory. However, open-ended play is not completely left to children to play around, but still requires adult guidance. Scientists believe that “play house” is a game that can make children smarter. Because this game requires the child’s imagination, but also requires him to have a certain degree of self-control. For example, the child wants to play the chef, he also has to comply with the rules of the chef. 4, praise for the child’s efforts Increasingly, research shows that natural talent is not the fundamental reason to determine the child’s future academic performance, but rather the level of effort plays a key role. So what we need to learn is how to praise our children appropriately so that they can work hard. (1) Praise your child, be specific and sincere We need to tell your child what we see and feel. For example, if your child draws a picture for you to see, don’t simply say, “Wow, that’s nice. Instead, you should say, you drew a scene from that book we read together before, ah, mommy loved it, and wow, you actually remembered there was a puppy there. Looks like you put a lot of thought into it. The next time he draws, he may remember your previous comment and will draw more carefully or make an effort to put in details, etc. (2) Praise your child and guide him to pay attention to the process of his own efforts As the famous psychologist Chen Xin mentioned, the purpose of praising children is to stimulate their inner motivation, so that they can gradually recognize their own abilities and make self-evaluation appropriately. Therefore, when completing something, we need to guide our children to focus on the process of completing it. If your child does well on a test, if you praise him, “You’re so smart, you did so well!” In the long run, this will lead your child to attribute his good test scores to talent. Once he does not do well on a test, he will be especially discouraged: that is because I am stupid, I just can not learn this content. Then the child’s motivation is lost. But if you praise him in a different way, “You seem to have prepared well and you were very careful on the test,” the child will attribute the good result to his own effort, carefulness, and other controllable factors. He will do so again the next time he takes a test. In short, we want our child to feel our emotions and appreciation as a way to stimulate his potential.