Baby Games

Anyone read a good book or know a good product to buy to help develop your child's brain at the early stages? I know from Psy classes years ago that as a baby if a child doesn't use certain parts of their brain the brain kills the connections. I read an article about a set of games you can play with the child that keeps more areas of the brain active but not finding a good resource on the actual games. The article was about some Compton or LA based research group in the 70's with inner city kids and because of the games the children's IQ were far superior to their peers and it continued throughout life.

TxBrew said:

Anyone read a good book or know a good product to buy to help develop your child's brain at the early stages? I know from Psy classes years ago that as a baby if a child doesn't use certain parts of their brain the brain kills the connections. I read an article about a set of games you can play with the child that keeps more areas of the brain active but not finding a good resource on the actual games. The article was about some Compton or LA based research group in the 70's with inner city kids and because of the games the children's IQ were far superior to their peers and it continued throughout life.

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Classical music is supposed to really help. Baby Einstein is controversial - some say it doesn't help at all.

I've been having luck by simply talking to my kids like they're adults (I should say intelligent, well spoken, literate adults). I mean, none of the high pitched goo goo gah gah crap. I also read to them all the time. My daughter has been able to spell and type about 20 words on the computer since she was 2. The baby boy has a lot to live up to now ;-)

I'm always talking to Cassie, pointing things out to her, asking her questions, just being really engaged with her. There's no magic formula, I don't think. As hard as it is for me to be objective, I think she's doing really well. She can "read" about fifteen words (she's 2 1/2). She reads one page of "Go Dog Go" by herself, I know it's all the pictures and memorization, but that's how they start. She knows all of her colors, she knows the alphabet. She can count to about twelve (although she says "eleven, twelven"). Knows all her colors, knows most of her shapes.

I think it's a matter of my wife and I both being very engaged in her life. Like Bobby said, not speaking down to her level. Reading to her and with her, her seeing us read. From what we've read, being in a house full of books (like ours) is one of the most predictive factors on kids that will grow up as readers.

Actually, one thing we did do very early on was teach her some sign language. Kids can communicate at a lot younger age than people expect, they just can't do it verbally. Sign language can help out tremendously. We have a Baby Einstein video that does sign, and there's a PBS show that Cassie used to *love* called "Signing Time."

[YOUTUBE]mdhcH5nI45w[/YOUTUBE]

It also helps with tantrums, etc, when the child can communicate what it is that they want (hungry, thirtsy, tired, etc.)

Yeah, you guys and your smart daughters. Go you.

I'm sure they'll all live to a ripe old age instead of dying by 25 after uttering the phrase "Hey guys, check this out. It'll be hillarious."

My son isn't going to be operating on brains or creating rockets, but dammit he'll be GRRRREAT in the X-Games.

Babies like different games at different ages, most of all just pay attention to them and play the games they like. Just don't get frustrated because some baby games aren't games at all to adults, but babies like 'em. Most of all just enjoy them while they're babies cause they ain't babies for long, that cute sweet stage where you can feed em, change em and put em to bed is over before you know it.

Cheesefood said:

Yeah, you guys and your smart daughters. Go you.

I'm sure they'll all live to a ripe old age instead of dying by 25 after uttering the phrase "Hey guys, check this out. It'll be hillarious."

My son isn't going to be operating on brains or creating rockets, but dammit he'll be GRRRREAT in the X-Games.

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Haha! I'm a very lucky person- I have both of those kids. A super smart motivated older daughter who has always made me look like the world's most capable/intelligent mother. She spoke at 5 months old and read at 2 1/2. My house was sparkeling clean and I worked part time.

Then I had my son. His first word was "vrmmmmm, vrmmmm" (revving engine) and even today he's monosyllabic (he's now 15). Actually, I have heard a couple of complete sentences out of him- the one Cheese mentioned only shorter. Something like, "Hey....watch this!", "Can I have a bigger snowboard/snowskates/racing skis/skateboard ramp/motorcycle?", "Let me see how far this thing shoots", and the most common, "OUCH!".

So my daughter wants to grow up to teach underprivileged children in a third world country. My son doesn't want to grow up.

Anyway, I think they are all right about this- the oldest one is more driven and focused and did better in school because when she was an infant she was engaged by adults. I did read alot of books but don't have any to recommend because I don't think they really did anything special.

One thing I firmly believe is to keep kids under 2 completely away from TV, even Barney or whatever they watch now. I did quite a bit of reading on that subject and all the studies I read suggested that NO TV for the toddlers and under set is crucial for utilizing other portions of the brain. Even educational shows aren't, for toddlers and infants. It has something to do with the brain and the pathways.

The absolute best thing you can do for your kid is teach them a second language. Ideally, Japanese/Chinese/Navaho, since these languages are so different from American. If you & yours don't speak anything else, just having them listen to other languages helps some.

Cheesefood said:

Yeah, you guys and your smart daughters. Go you.

I'm sure they'll all live to a ripe old age instead of dying by 25 after uttering the phrase "Hey guys, check this out. It'll be hillarious."

My son isn't going to be operating on brains or creating rockets, but dammit he'll be GRRRREAT in the X-Games.

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Hell yeah, I can't wait to yell at Cameron for building some unstable very unsafe ramp to jump his bike off of, plus parents with boys only have to worry about one pen!s, you all with daughters.......well you get it.

Cheers

the_bird said:

Actually, one thing we did do very early on was teach her some sign language. Kids can communicate at a lot younger age than people expect, they just can't do it verbally. Sign language can help out tremendously. We have a Baby Einstein video that does sign, and there's a PBS show that Cassie used to *love* called "Signing Time."

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I did the same thing with my oldest daughter. By the time she was 15 months she knew how to sign for just about everything that she wanted but couldn't say.

Overall though I'd have to agree with Bird in that I don't know that there are any foolproof ways to continually stimilate all parts of the human brain on a consistent basis.

I read to all of my children regularly, and I have the older ones read to me (or to their sisters) for 20 minutes every night. On the weekends we have 'school time' where we play some silly games, but also do some real school work that's related to things that they are actually doing in school - albeit more advanced. My Kindergartner is doing simple math and some reading already and my 2nd grader is doing math and reading well above her grade level.

Most kids love to learn, you just need to make it fun for them by keeping them engaged and interested.

I should clarify, we didn't do any TV for the first 15 months or so, and VERY limited afterwards. We didn't wait the full two years, but we also didn't plop her down in front of the set. Something like the Signing Time, we'd sit there and interact with her. Even now, the TV might be on, but Cassie's usually DOING something, it's very rare that she'll just sit there and watch. Except when she was sick and cuddled up on the couch and watched CNBC with me.

Bad games:

1. *******
2. Hide The Pink Sausage
3. Knifey-Spoony
4. "I'll Bet You Can't Swallow This"
5. Target Practice
6. William Tell
7. Chop Poker
8. Sword fighting with flourescent tubes
9. Does This Hurt?
10. Catch The Jart.