5 Ways to Boost Your Kid's Learning Power

5 Ways to Boost Your Kid's Learning Power
5 Ways to Boost Your Kid's Learning Power

Got a kid who's not quite living up to her learning potential -- say, pulling in Cs when she could easily be a report-card-carrying member of the A team? Threats and bribes might help, but these five strategies are smarter:

  1. Burn and learn. Body work + brain work = better test results. So toss some multiplication practice into your Frisbee-golf game, or quiz her for her geography test while on your bike tour of the neighborhood. Kids' test scores increase as much as 13.5% when they exercise while learning new information, say researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina Children's Hospital.

  2. Tame the tube. The more time kids spend focusing on any kind of video screen, the less they'll be able to focus on a blackboard or book, new data suggests. That's because staring at screens causes a hypersurge of the brain chemical dopamine, which aids learning and concentration. Yes, that sounds like a good thing, but too much screen-induced dopamine can desensitize the brain's response to less-intense stimuli. Limit TV and video games to no more than 2 hours a day.

  3. Watch what she watches. If your kid's tuning into R-rated movies -- even just once in a while -- her grades could suffer, according to a study of more than 4,500 middle schoolers. So when she does watch TV (or disappears with the family laptop), be extra vigilant about what's playing, and make sure she keeps it clean.

  4. Feed her oats. Breakfast eaters leave breakfast skippers in the dust when it comes to classroom performance, so don't let your child leave home on an empty stomach. Oatmeal will give her an even better edge. One study found that, compared with ready-to-eat cereal, oatmeal is the ultimate brain grain: It's a slow-to-burn energy source, so it keeps the cranium cranking longer.

  5. Avoid the night shift. Sure, it's tempting to let your child stay up later on Friday and Saturday nights. After all, what's the harm, as long as she can snooze late enough the next morning to log her usual 8-plus hours of sleep? The "harm" could be a seven-point dip on standardized IQ tests, according to Brown University researchers. Regular sleep routines, 7 days a week, are healthy essentials for young brains and bodies (yours, too!). Get your child to bed at the same time every night.

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