Archives for November 2018

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.

When your child is bored, what type of entertainment do you provide them with? Most people are likely to have answered this question with the following answer; “I turn on the television and allow them to watch some cartoons”. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is rather the opposite. A lot of research and theory has been put together in order to conclude that cartoons may actually have a positive impact on your child’s psychology as well as their behavioral patterns.

Children like to copy what they see on television

This can be a positive or a negative depending on the cartoons you allow your children to watch. We will assume that you don’t let your children watch violent television programmes. Children are highly influenced by what they watch on television when they are young. This is because their mind can be easily influenced and manipulated. If your child is watching good cartoons that are age appropriate and educational, then this is definitely a benefit. They can use this to explore further too. Child anime shows, for instance, can open a wealth of doors because this phenomenon is so huge. Use this as a tool to get your child to look up anime news online and pursue other sorts of hobbies and activities that can really aid their development.

Positive educational behaviour patterns

There are lots of educational benefits to be had by watching cartoons on television. This is a psychologically positive point because these cartoons help to change children’s attitudes towards learning. Because children see their favorite cartoon characters readily learning and they see the massive positive effects that can be had by doing so, they are also encouraged to learn and pay more attention. Therefore, you may find that some cartoons encourage your child to stick in better at school and do their homework. Whilst cartoons can help with problem-solving and developing key skills, it is the change in the attitude towards education that is really important here.

Physiological benefits when reality and fantasy is differentiated

For the true psychological impacts to be felt children need to have a clear distinction between what is fantasy and what is fact. The best way to ensure that this is the case is to simply keep an eye on how much cartoons your child is watching. Make sure that they have other activities aside from watching cartoons every single hour of every single day. If your child has successfully determined the difference between the reality of real life and the fantasy of cartoons then your child has opened their mental capacity. They have a more thorough way of thinking and they are mature enough in order to know what is considered real and what is not. This is, of course, highly beneficial because it means that your child has taken an important step on the ladder of development. And this is what all children need to do when they are growing up.

The benefits of cartoons run a lot deeper than simply providing youngsters with some light-hearted entertainment. There is a vast selection of psychological benefits and behavioral patterns that can be attained by watching a good range of cartoons suitable for your children’s age.