A Unique Way to Improve your Cognitive Abilities is to help your Kids with Homework

As a parent we want to make sure our children are doing well in school. One way to make sure is to help them with their homework. Now, you may be chuckling to yourself remembering how long ago it was that you were in school. Some of the learning styles have changed since then but the basics of the materials remains the same. By helping your kids with their homework you can improve your cognitive abilities.

At first you may feel completely out of the loop. For example your child may be taking an algebra class. There are many rules to follow for it and most of us don’t remember them. Take the time to follow the examples in the book to see what you can figure out. A great way to help your child to check their math homework is to do several of the problems on your own sheet of paper. Have your child do the same thing and then compare answers. If you find that some of them are different work those problems together to find the right answer.

English is another course where you can improve your cognitive abilities when helping your kids with homework. Do you readily recall all of those rules relating to the different parts of speech? Don’t worry if you don’t off hand because most adults will have to say that they don’t either. As you relearn this material you will be able to help your child with his or her homework. You will also be able to enhance your own skills.

When your children discover you have a vested interest in their school work they will be more motivated to complete it. They will feel confident coming to you for help with it as well. You can use that time together to bond in a way that you haven’t been able to before. Many children are intimidated to ask their teachers for help. Yet they don’t mind asking their parents.

Too often though as parents we don’t have the right information to help them learn it. By keeping on top of what your children are learning you can help them do their very best in school. At the same time you will be exercising your own brain and improving your cognitive abilities. If you have several children make sure you learn what they are doing at the various levels.

If you aren’t able to learn what you need to from your child’s school books, look around online. There are plenty of sites dedicated to helping parent’s learn such information. You can also contact the school and ask the teacher to help you if you are puzzled by certain formulas or information that your child is being asked to use for their homework.

You will be surprised by how much of the information you retain learning it this second time around. Then as your younger children move up to more advanced work you will already have the skills you need to complete it. Another benefit of all of this is that it gives you a new way to look at things. Instead of just telling your children to go do their homework you have a first hand understanding of what they need to accomplish as well as the time it takes to do it.

Computers for Kiddos

Going to kindergarten in this new age is a lot different than it was when we were children. Modern children are more aware of the adult world, more sophisticated and certainly more aware of technology and the internet than was imaginable even a few years ago when that youngster was a newborn. So we have to take that into consideration when we begin to prepare a child for kindergarten because there is really no level of schooling that is untouched by computers and technology.

The first step for finding out how much your child needs to know about computers and the internet day one in kindergarten is to visit the school and talk to the teacher. It really isn’t a matter of kids being forced to learn about cyberspace. Schools are simply using the internet for teaching because kids are showing up already knowing all about it. As you look around any modern kindergarten class, you will see dozens of computer kiosks so the kids can connect to the internet and use the internet for anything from research to communications to learning games to exploring the galaxies.

So much is made about the dangers of the internet and those are certainly real. But there are tremendous resources that the kindergarten teacher will take advantage of to take that new class to wonderful new places using safe and carefully prepared web sites that can enhance the child’s education.

The next step is to find out just how much your little angel already knows about computers and the internet. If you have a computer and you allow your child to wander around the internet already, she may know more than you imagined or wished she knew. But by having a conversation with your child or by sitting online and exploring some basic web sites together, you can gauge her level of skill and knowledge. It will be an unusual meeting between parent and child because its very possible that at times you will be teaching her things and other times she will be the teacher and you the student learning the most modern things that young people, even very young people like your child, already know about the online world.

Be sure when you begin to expose your youngster to the internet that you have also made sure the internet is a safe place for her to be. You can create specific account on your computer just for your child that is heavily restricted. You can get some excellent tools that are often called “net nannies” which will keep your sweet innocent child from accidentally going to sites they should not see. You can even set up a set list of web sites you will allow them to be on and restrict their browser so only those sites are authorized.

Helping your child build internet search skills will jump start her into the modern world of school wonderfully. But there are other computer skills that being online will help her develop to make her more efficient even in this very basic level of schooling at kindergarten. If you can open the world of email, instant messaging and chat to your child on kid safe web sites where she will be talking to other children only, your five year old will actually develop fairly well developed typing skills being motivated by the fun of online conversation with other kids.

There are other computer tools that will of tremendous value to your child that she can begin to get exposure to in the months leading up to kindergarten. The Microsoft office suite which is so useful to adults will be an important tool set for any student even in elementary school. Learning to use the powerful resources of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint will give your child ways to accomplish their school assignments that are fun because they are on the computer and so much more efficient than the old pencil and notebook method.

By thinking like a twenty first century parent, you can start even at the kindergarten level to see your child’s school experience as one that will be heavily influenced by computer skills and the internet. And by equipping your child to be ready to use those tools from day one at kindergarten, she is jumping into school way ahead in terms of being equipped to be a big success in her academic career.

A Little Separation is a Good Thing

One of the things about a child going to kindergarten that is so new is the feeling of being apart from mom and dad for the first time.  For most infants, one of the things they can count on the most is being able to be with mom or dad, all the time. It’s one of those constants that gives a young child that sense of stability and safety from which she can explore the world.

So when that moment comes when the child will be going off to kindergarten, it might be the first time that your child will be away from you for any significant period of time.  And that can cause anxiety for the child as well as for mom and dad.  But there are things you can do to prepare for that moment of separation so the shock isn’t so sudden and so the child can acclimate to the new world of public school.

The key to reducing the anxiety of that big move to kindergarten is to “test drive” separations from mom and dad in the year or so before kindergarten.  Now, it’s fairly normal for a child to be with a babysitter for an evening.  Often this is grandma or the child spends the evening with other relatives with whom there is already a fair amount of comfort and security.   But you might think about making these kinds of separations more frequent to where the child knows he or she will be away from mom an evening each week indefinitely.

The importance of starting to make separations very routine is that you take away the idea that any separation is a rarity and that the routine is to be with you nonstop every day and every night.   But at the same time, a very important event happens each time you drop your baby off at a sitters and she has a successful time away from the home.  And that event is when you return to your child, safe and sound and the child begins to understand that mom and dad can go somewhere else, that they are safe while they are gone and that they will come back and take her home.

While this may seem simple to you, it’s a huge breakthrough to the child to come to that realization.  And that understanding is crucial because when your baby goes to kindergarten, she will often wonder if mom and dad are alright.  So giving her the ability to visualize where her parents are and what they are doing is tremendously helpful for her to feel secure that the world is a safe place and everybody is where they should be.

Giving your infant the ability to “see you” when you are apart is a huge help to that coping they go through as being separated becomes regular when she starts kindergarten and goes there each day.  You know you child can visualize mom at home.  But if you also let her get a feel for dad at work and be able to “see” him at his office after a nice visit or some time during “bring your child to work day”, then that coping becomes even easier.

By increasing the frequency and length of outings for your child during the last year before kindergarten, her confidence will increase and she will actually see times away from mom and dad as adventures and chances to do new things and have more fun than ever.  And when that enthusiasm for trying new things is built up, then you have done a good job of reducing the impact of separation and empowering your child to get out there and be a success in her first year of school and every year thereafter too.

Current fashion trends for teen girls

Today is a great time to be a teen girl when it comes to the wide variety of fashions that are available. There's such a dazzling display of colors, patterns, and styles that it's easy to get turned around and not know what's popular any more. It's also easy to lose track of the fact that our teen girls are still young women and that not all styles are appropriate for them to wear. The key is balance being fashionable with still being a teen and having fun being young.

The deconstructed look that has taken over teen boys fashion has also found it's way over to the girls but with a feminine twist. Instead of pairing a faded shirt with a graphic tee a girl may opt to instead mix it up with a colorful cami showing a hint of lace. It's still a comfortable casual style but gives a little more of a girlish touch to the look. Or, going the opposite way she may pair the graphic tee with a vintage blouse for a look that's slightly sharper and not quite as casual.  

The low rise jeans craze has also hit the female gender and has in fact gone a little bit further as girls jeans become lower and tighter than their male counterparts. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but can be taken to an extreme that is inappropriate for someone of that age. No one really needs to see what underwear your teen daughter is wearing so care should always be taken to find jeans that fit well.

Capris are also a popular look that lend themselves to wide range of possibilities. The nice thing about capris is that they can go from being casual to being crisp and businesslike with just a change of top and accessory. Paired with a nice button down vest and sensible shoes they create a smart look that's equally at home in both a classroom or at the mall for an afternoon shopping trip. On the other hand pair them with a tee or a halter top and a pair of wedge shoes and you have a comfortable casual look that she can wear hanging out with friends. The possibilities are only limited by the imagination and use of accessories.

Of course there is the ever popular skirt. Skirts never really go out of fashion they just change shape and size. This year the mini is yet again in fashion which has a lot of parents concerned. They just aren't ready for their daughter to leave the house showing that much skin. Well, there's a solution for the this problem that can keep both parents and daughters happy. That solution is the footless tights that are enjoying another year of popularity. These tights allow a teen girl to wear a skirt that by itself would be too short for modesty but with the tights it becomes both wearable and fashionable.

Dresses are also a very fashionable choice and there's a wide range of dress styles to choose from. For casual wear the ever popular halter dress is always a good choice. Available in a variety of colors and lengths there's sure to be one that will please even the most finicky teen girl. For more formal occasions the halter dress can be paired with a nice shirt or sweater giving it a more demure appearance that lends itself well to occasions where a halter dress by itself would not be appropriate.

One of the best things about fashion for teen girls is the variety and the color. The current trend of bright colors and bold prints makes for a more interesting fashion statement than in past seasons. Layers make for a more versatile wardrobe that can be made up of less individual pieces so that it's possible to go for quality instead of quantity. All of these things make is possible for a girl to really exercise her sense of individuality and create a look that is truly her own.