There’s much to love about being a stay at home parent. You get to spend time with the kids, make your home in your creation, and so on. But there’s a couple of downsides. It can get a little boring, for sure, and it can feel like you go too long without speaking to other adults. An often underrated aspect of being a stay at home parent, however, is that you’re not engaging your mind as much as it needs to stay sharp. The good news is that mental sharpness comes back pretty quickly, if you do the right activities. We take a look at some these below.
Challenging Reading
There’s a lot of throwaway books that you can read at home. They’ll entertain, and take you on an adventure, but it might not sharpen your mind. For that to happen, you need to be reading challenging works. A good point of reference is to find out what reading level the book is written at. If it’s a young reading age (the content can be for adults but reading age younger), then consider throwing one or two heavier books onto the shelf.
Daily Puzzles
Puzzles and games are an excellent way to keep your mind sharp. You’re using abstract thinking and arithmetic, and that will boost your brainpower in no time. You can find engaging, challenging games in the puzzle section of the newspaper, or at sites like critiquesdecasino.com. Your mind will be a little rusty at first, but you’ll find that it gets back up to speed in no time. Your brain is just like any other muscle; you wouldn’t expect your arms to be strong if you never used them, but after several weeks of going to the gym, you’d see that your strength is back.
Get Exercise
If you don’t think exercise and brain power are related, then try the following test. Spend one week sitting on the couch. Then spend the next week doing daily exercise. You’ll find that after a few days in the first week, you were feeling sluggish and found it difficult to concentrate. After the following week, you’ll be firing out witty comments and smart insights. Well, maybe. In any case, you’ll definitely feel more alert and “with it” once you’ve made working up a sweat part of your routine.
Documentaries and Talks
There’s a whole wealth of information online. You can learn new subjects just like you were taking a course, and all without leaving your home. Watch some Ted Talks, listen to some of the most educational podcasts, and watch documentaries. You’ll find that you learn a lot more than if you were just scrolling through your social media channels.
Creative Pursuits
Finally, if you’re at home, why not pick up a creative hobby? Creativity uses different areas of the brain, and as time goes on and you get better at the activity, you’ll find that you’re able to go deeper into creative thinking, and better at abstract thinking, too.
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