How to raise your child’s IQ

The first five years of your child’s are the most crucial in terms of cognitive and overall development. This means that, these five years are the time when your child will learn and grasp the most, and this is also the best time to help him or her make the most of his abilities in terms of learning.

The term IQ broadly covers areas such as information, linguistic skills, math, spatial understanding, memory, gross and fine motor skills as well as thinking abilities.

Here are tips that will help you raise your child’s IQ

1. Talk to your child all the time – You don’t have to talk to your child about things they will understand, but the key is to talk about anything and everything. From what you are eating to what you can see outside the window to what books you are reading and how you are doing the dishes or what colour dress your baby is wearing, keep talking to your baby about anything that you can think of.

2. Introduce language – India is a country of diverse languages and if you speak more than one language, make sure to do so at home in front of your child. Children who can speak more than one language have a higher IQ than those who speak only one language. You don’t have to be perfect at it, just make sure you speak the language enough so that your child can understand the difference in each.

3. Test memory – Try out fun and interesting ways to help your child test memory skills. Talk to your child about something and ask about it after some time. You can also show them a particular object and place it somewhere, then ask them later where you kept it. While this will be a great conversational activity and encourages communication and language skills, it will also boost your child’s memory.

4. Engage in age appropriate tasks – Letting your child take part in small activities around the house will encourage the gross and fine motor skills. Some really good objects that can help develop and improve your child’s fine and gross motor skills are papers, brushes, paints, pens, beads (make sure they are big enough to not have any choking hazard), household items and such that your child can hold and work with.

Encourage your child to talk and play as much as possible. More than anything else, playing is one of the best ways to boost your child’s IQ!