Maximising children's learning experiences for brain development

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Maximising children's learning experiences for brain development

A newborn’s brain contains 100 billion brain cells or neurons. These neurons are highly connected as one of their roles is communication, and amazingly a single cell can connect with as many as 15,000 other neurons. These connections are created through experience and learning and lead to a network which is referred to as the brain’s “wiring”. In the research, it is known that “cells that fire together, wire together”. So cells which repeatedly connect or fire together, will create a stronger, lasting bond and will therefore wire together.

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Let children run wild - it could even improve their academic performance

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Let children run wild - it could even improve their academic performance

Physical fitness and agility are linked to bigger brains and better test scores....

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Teenage substance abuse? Here is Iceland's answer to it. And it works, so why don't we adopt it?

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Teenage substance abuse? Here is Iceland's answer to it. And it works, so why don't we adopt it?

Iceland knows how to stop teenage substance abuse. Smoking, drinking and drug use have been radically cut in the past 20 years. Emma Young finds out how they did it, and why other countries won’t follow suit.

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Signs of stress in your children and teens

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Signs of stress in your children and teens

Young people, like adults, experience stress. It can come from a variety of sources including doing well in school, making and sustaining friendships, or managing perceived expectations from their parents, teachers or coaches. Some stress can be positive in that it provides the energy to tackle a big test, presentation or sports event. Too much stress, however, can create unnecessary hardship and challenge. Adults can sometimes be unaware when their children or teens are experiencing overwhelming feelings of stress.

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Research shows why mums and dads should feel good about their children crying when they leave them with strangers...

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Research shows why mums and dads should feel good about their children crying when they leave them with strangers...

We all need to leave our children at some point in their early development. No denying, it can be very distressing for both chid and parent, and when this happens, we wish that we could leave the room without them crying and they could just play happily until we return. Sounds good. However, if your child cries when you leave and is showing signs of distress, paradoxically, you should be rather happy.

Why?

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Why is there such a difference between these three-year-old brains?

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Why is there such a difference between these three-year-old brains?

Take a careful look at the image of two brains on this page. The picture is of the brains of two three-year-old children. It’s obvious that the brain on the left is much bigger than the one on the right. The image on the left also has fewer spots, and far fewer dark “fuzzy” areas. To neurologists who study the brain, and who have worked out how to interpret the images, the difference between these two brains is both remarkable and shocking...

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Guess what? There is no APP for relationships or for being a human

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Guess what? There is no APP for relationships or for being a human

THERE IS NO APP FOR RELATIONSHIPS. THERE IS NO APP FOR LIFE AND JOB SATISFACTIONS. There is no getting away from it. Life is hard sometimes and we need resilience in ourselves to get out of our dark holes and keep going. Yes, there are truly blissed moments of joy. But there are dark days too. It is a journey of a human being. We try to protect our children from the darkness, but guess what? They will discover it. In a worst case scenario, all on their own, when they don’t even know where to turn for help.

If they are lucky,

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Mindfulness exercises

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Mindfulness exercises

We are so distracted by our constant access to technology, information and sources of instant entertainment and communication that many people rarely have any time to be truly aware of themselves or the world around them. 

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Treats? - think again! Child obesity almost doubled over the past few decades in the UK

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Treats? - think again! Child obesity almost doubled over the past few decades in the UK

An international study has found that four in ten children aged between five and 19 are overweight or medically obese – with ten per cent of youngsters in the UK deemed at an unhealthy weight.

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How to prevent bullying - ditch the yes or no questions

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How to prevent bullying - ditch the yes or no questions

If you want to stop your child from being bullied — or better yet, prevent it in the first place — there is a very simple thing you can do: talk to your child.

We don’t so much mean talk to your child about standing up to bullies, or about letting a teacher know if they see or experience bullying, although both of those are important messages for your child to hear. We mean literally just talk to your child, so that you can better get to know him or her — and better get to know what their daily life is like.

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