Developing Curiosity in Children - Some Simple Tips and Suggestions

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Hi,
Children are always very curious! They want to know about everything that happens around them. They want to touch different objects, feel them and learn about their shapes and characteristics. Other children may badly want to know how a car engine works or what makes the car to move on its wheels. There are hundreds of different questions, some of which are very simple, while the others are very difficult. One thing is sure – that all children ask too many questions about things and events that happen around them, every day and throughout the year. A sense of curiosity makes your children ask all these questions.

So, what is curiosity? It is a psychological ability that comes almost automatically to your children. It helps your children solidify ideas, clarify questions, seek answers to all queries and probe them in all possible angles. It also encourages your children differentiate how things and scenarios could be different. Curiosity is a state of mind that helps your children actively explore immediate environment, ask the right type of questions, probe all possibilities and express a sense of deep wonder at those things that are amazing and surprising.

With curiosity, your children can easily find solutions to problems that almost center on such expressions as “why” and “how”. Questioning will lead your children to deeper-most levels of knowledge that eventually helps them to create a meaningful equation between different aspects of life. A sense of heightened curiosity will also help your children become better citizens and responsible individuals.

Is it possible to develop a sense of curiosity in your children? Although, curiosity is natural gift that comes automatically to your children, you may still need to nudge or slow-push them to find answers to the most curious questions of life. As a parent, you may also wish to answer their questions with a sense of deep purpose, which is to make them empowered with the ability to find out solutions to critical problems of life.

Curiosity can quench the thirst for acquiring useful and practical knowledge. It is also the pathway to heightened mental and brain development. When your children are curious, they can be the most productive people on the planet. Have a nice day!

Thought for today:
"Winners are losers who got up and gave it one more try." - Dennis DeYoung

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Children and Curiosity - Understanding the Equation
With curiosity, your children can be very smart and intelligent, both in their classroom and society. The power of curiosity also helps your children in solving a number of dicey problems. Curiosity could also be a complex thing!

Developing Curiosity in your Children - Some Simple Tips and Suggestions
Curiosity is very important to your children's life. It is possible to fuel your children's burning desire to know and master curious things of life. Curiosity also provides your child an exciting moment to immerse themselves in finding the right type of answers to the most complex questions. Here are some useful tips and suggestions to all parents.

Q1: I just got my daughters result from her IQ test and PR. Her scores from IQ test is 117 while her PR is 87. Kindly interpret it for me. Thank you.

A: I assume this to be the latest version of the WISC. It is a little difficult to determine much from these scores alone as all the scores and percentiles are required for better interpretation. However, I will help interpret based on the scores provided but it may not accurately be descriptive of your daughter's performance. The Full Scale IQ (FSIQ) of 117 indicates a rather high intelligence quotient, however not amounting to the level of giftedness. However, the Full Scale IQ score of the WISC-IV often does not represent a child's intellectual abilities as well as the General Ability Index (GAI) so you may want to check on that ... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Intelligence Test Score Interpretation here.

Q2: I am a mother of a three and a half year-old. My son displays a high degree of intuition. He does things without apparent effort, like sports (soccer, miniature golf, etc...), reading (age 2), writing, taking well centered pictures with my camera, memorizing the 50 states (age 2), completing puzzles, using the computer before age 2, rhyming (age 2), recognizing numbers up to 100(age 2), spelling words before age 2, completing Kindergarten and first grade worksheets with ease, and so on. He is bilingual, he is fluent in English and able to communicate in Spanish at an intermediate level. He has an amazing memory....

A: You have a truly special child there with amazing abilities at such a young age. I am glad that you are aware of his special ability and want to do as much as you can to nurture his abilities to the maximum. There are many books out there and it is hard to recommend one specifically. ... Continue to read Dr. Sandhu's answer on Resources for Parents of the Young Gifted here.

How Children Learn (Classics in Child Development)
By John Holt

"Children do not need to be made to learn," Holt maintains, because each is born with what Einstein called "the holy curiosity of inquiry." For them, learning is as natural as breathing. First published in 1967, How Children Learn has become a classic for parents and teachers, providing an "effective, gentle voice of reason" (Life). First, Holt believes that children are born learners and that there is a curiosity in all children that begins at birth, not when they are put in school.

His observations of young children reveal that their brains are trying to make sense of the world. Children want to solve problems; they like to think. The problem is that parents and educators get in the way of this natural process by placing children in large, impersonal schools, and by teaching a meaningless curriculum in an industrial factory setting.

Your Child's Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them
By Jenifer Fox

Fox, head of a girl's boarding school in New Jersey, writes about a strengths-based curriculum she developed and implemented with great success. She not only presents a workbook that can be utilized by educators and parents, but also offers a convincing argument in favor of over-turning outdated curriculums and teaching methods.

Instead of focusing on weaknesses, Fox submits that children do far better when the focus is on their strengths. Childhood is for "creative dreaming," not preparation for standardized tests. Fox identifies three types of strengths: activity, learning and relationship strengths, and helps parents guide their children toward self-discovery, explaining that true strengths include not only what a child is good at, but what she enjoys and makes her feel strong.

Brain Food
The Star Online May 13, 2009

Studies have shown that children who consume high glycemic index food have poorer word recall ability, attention span and memory power. NOT many parents realize this, but by three months old, a baby's brain has developed 40% to 50% of the total adult number of brain cells. In the first year of a child's life, the brain gains weight by 2g a day.

Babies Brainier Than Many Imagine
The Science Daily May 7, 2009

A new study from Northwestern University shows what many mothers already know: their babies are a lot smarter than others may realize. Though only five months old, the study's cuties indicated through their curious stares that they could differentiate water in a glass from solid blue material that looked very much like water in a similar glass.

Mums who exercise boost baby IQ
The Times Online May 3, 2009

MOTHERS who exercise during pregnancy are helping to boost their child's IQ, according to research by American psychologists. In a challenge to the conventional wisdom, that intelligence is 80% genetic, Richard E Nisbett, a psychologist and father of two, argues that recent findings point to a pivotal role for mothers. Fathers, whether absent or doting, have relatively little influence over their offspring's intelligence.

How to raise a two-year-old genius
The Globe and Mail May 5, 2009

Pete and Ilona Pretorius suspected from an early age that their son, James, was special, particularly when he came home from his first day of kindergarten. "Mom, Dad, I think I'm in the wrong class," he said. "Why?" his parents wanted to know. "Because the teacher and I are the only ones who can read," he told them.

Parents key to children's early learning
Pal Item May 5, 2009

Those parents who seek out accredited private preschool programs and take advantage of Head Start get a jump out of the gate for their child's education. But parents who cannot afford preschool programs, or are unwilling to use them, put their child's educational future at risk.

Toddler Becomes Youngest Mensa Member
The Afro May 6, 2009

With intelligence far beyond her years, Elise Tan Roberts, 2, has been inducted into Mensa, a society for people with high IQs. The child's IQ is 156, which trumps the average person's IQ of 100. To put Roberts' intelligence in perspective, renowned thinker Albert Einsten's IQ was 160 as an adult.

An Affectionate Hug To Your Child Will Work Wonders
The Link May 12, 2009

Did you give your child a loving hug today? For a healthy growth of a child it is better to make hugging your child a daily ritual. In fact, stop for a moment and think - "did you hug your child today when he/she came from school or when you returned from work?

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