We all want the absolute best for our children, but sometimes it’s a little unclear how to achieve that. Many of the social structures that people relied upon 20, 30, or 50 years ago are not as reliable as they once were. Pensions are all but extinct, job security has plummeted across most industries, you can’t pay your way through college with a job on the side, the list goes on. Because of all this, it’s more important than ever to promote your child’s mental acuity and critical thinking skills to give them a higher chance of success later on in life. Here at Rebounderz, we usually focus on the fun side of child rearing, like having a kid’s birthday party at one of our Apopka trampoline parks. But just in case you’re looking for a little advice, here are some tips on how to improve your child’s working memory, an indispensable tool for adulthood.

Play Games

We’ll start with a fun one. If you’ve ever watched a nature documentary, you know that young mammals use play to learn the basic skills they’ll need to survive later in life. Essentially, the same is true for humans. Even out there games like our Apopka trampoline park basketball help children learn good life skills, but if you want to focus on improving their working memory, a card game, board game, etc. works as a great tool. Not only is it necessary for kids to memorize the rules to participate, but will also build critical thinking skills when determining HOW to play the game within that set of rules.

Read

Instilling a love for reading is maybe one of the best tools you can give to your child. Not only will you give them their own little world to retreat to when they feel overwhelmed, but that world will build their vocabulary, expose them to new concepts, and help build their budding sense of identity. When they get a little older, you can take reading to the next level by teaching active reading habits. Using the highlighter, making comments in page margins, asking questions about the reading, explaining views on the reading, all of these things improve your child’s ability to understand information, as well as increase their working memory.

Make Learning Manageable

When you get right down to it, with few exceptions, anybody can learn just about anything if they have the time and resources to put into it. What stops most people from doing so is the idea that some things are just too complicated for some people to learn. That is rarely the case, but rather people’s expectations of what they should be learning in any given time are too much. Nip this problem in the bud by teaching your kids techniques to make learning big concepts manageable. The best way to do this is by splitting information into bite sized segments. There’s a reason phone numbers have a dash in them, and that is because smaller groups of numbers are easier to remember than big groups of numbers. Apply this logic when your kid is having trouble retaining memory or grasping new concepts.

Use Multi-Sensory Stimuli

Have you ever wondered why you tend to remember things better when you write them down, even if you never look at that writing again? That’s due to the way our brain works, by literally creating connections between neurons. We learn by associations, and so presenting information through different sensory mediums is a great way to increase the amount of connections your brain is making. This is a tried and true method for learning vast amounts of information in college, and it’s never too early to instill the habit in your children.

If all that sounds like a lot, don’t worry, it is! But you’ve got plenty of time to work with your kids to build the skills they’ll need as a productive adult. There is also no reason that learning can’t be fun, and we encourage you to participate right alongside your child for maximum effect. If you’re looking for some fun for fun’s sake, check out our Apopka trampoline park, with activities like trampoline basketball and dodgeball. We also host kid’s birthday parties. Give us a call for more information, or to book an activity today!