CONCENTRATION for fun and profit.

Concentration is a basic skill that can be taught and made fun at the same time. You need only the simplest things found anywhere and you’ve got a game and lesson for life.
The ability to focus attention invades all aspects of life from school study to reading for pleasure or advancement to comprehending what’s going on in the world.

Unfortunately TV has lessened attention span to the 30 second (or less) grab. TV has a great power to educate yet it can reduce children to zombies.
Recently someone visited with his 15 year old son. The boy didn’t believe I wrote for magazines so I showed him some amusing pieces to suit his age. The first was 300 words with a cartoon illustration. He wouldn’t read it because he said it was too long!
300 words were too long?! Great heavens. Is he ever going to read a page? For those who don’t count words as part of their life, 172 words is up to this asterisk *

Just from that, we can say that he does poorly in school, will leave early, get a job as a hands–on worker, will never aspire to anything other than a bit more money in the same industry and… You know the type.

But you’re not reading this because you are the type of parent who wants that for your son or daughter. You want your child to grow knowing what you weren’t taught, but should have been. You want your child to be better prepared for the world of their future. You care.
Let’s use a deck of playing cards. A deck has 52 different cards and therefore an enormous variety of combinations of numbers, suits, picture cards or any three.

We can start with the simplest game of “Snap” for the little ones, where a player puts his hand on the cards and says ”snap” every time two consecutive sevens, twos, aces, or whatever are dealt to a pile on the table. They could be sevens or hearts or picture cards. They take these two cards and the game continues. When the whole deck has been played, shuffle the remaining cards to restart.

You could make it harder by nominating any particular consecutive cards, like only red cards or cards numbered six or less in sequence, i.e. ace-two, two-three, three-four, etc. Whoever ends with the most cards wins the game. This teaches observation and concentration and reflexes in one game. The sequence game also reinforces number learning.

One for the slightly more advanced is just for concentration. Deal all the cards out on a table, face up. Explain the game and then turn them face down. Now each player may turn up two cards so everyone else can see them. If these two match in number or picture, they can be taken from the table and placed in front of that player, who then has another chance at another two cards. When they fail to match, the next player has a turn.
The winner is the one who ends with the most cards.

A harder variation of this is to match number and color, for example the two threes in red (hearts and diamonds); the two black kings etc. This makes for a longer game and you have to remember many more card positions and more detail.

This game can be stared by dealing all cards face down at the start so that everybody starts ’blind’.

All card games that people gamble on involve chance. But in some games, players try to maximize their chances of winning by ‘card counting’. Casinos don’t like this and take measures to discourage or confuse the practice. It consists of remembering what cards have been played and weighing the odds of getting the right card. It is quite possible to remember the sequence of a whole deck of shuffled cards. If a child can concentrate long enough to learn the technique, they’ll be able to do that and much more. Think of their later academic prospects.

Never think that a job is too complicated for the child. Their minds soak in anything and if they don’t get it right the first time, they’ll adjust the detail later. Teach them Chess. Be seen playing it. Go to the park with the Chess tables. Never tell them it’s too complicated for them. If you don’t know the game, ask a player to teach the basics. Most players will be very happy to share their interest. Watch and learn.
Very often a young player will beat an older player because the youngster tries non standard moves that confuse an older players’ pattern of play. It’s good for both sides.

Why Chess? There are a variety of moves with different pieces and the interplay between pieces can become quite complicated. It means skill in planning and strategy, concentration and interaction with another mind.
It teaches patience and analytical skills. It’s a game to take with you into adulthood. Maybe Golf is the game where deals are made but Chess is the room where the plots are decided before any deals are made.

You can play Chess for free or get free lessons and there are so many great animated games to choose from. Remember the Harry Potter game?
One of its beauties lies in its popularity with all ages and nationalities. You don’t have to speak Mandarin or Polish to mutually enjoy the game.
We can go outside our scope here to say you can design a six sided board for three players. Try it. The game really requires some thinking. There is also 3dimensional chess where some of the board is raised. True 3D Chess on an eight level cube would be a mammoth undertaking for any mind.
Anything to help a child concentrate is worth it and need cost nothing. If it’s made to be fun, it is more easily learned. A by-product of these games is that your mind is kept up to scratch too.

Just type 'on line chess' or 'teaching chess' into google for a wealth of info.

Long live the King.

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The vaccine issue raises its head again in the UK where some doctors have suggested that certain vaccines may help cause autism by damaging a child’s immune system. The vaccine acts like letting the child play in the dirt and thereby develop immunity to pathogens and parasites that harm the body. But all of us are different so while one child may suffer another may benefit by the same procedure. How can we tell? We can’t ban immunization because it causes dire side effects in some children. But autism is for life. How do we test it?

Your input is welcome as a comment or regular contributor.
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Little kid looking at Mums’ drivers’ license.
"Mum, you're 38 years old."
"That's right dear."
"How come you got an 'f' in 'sex'?"
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Be good, Jay Ross. iqchildren@gmail.com

CHILD ABUSE _ PETS_INVITATION

“You’ll never amount to anything.” “You’ll never be able to hold a job for long.” “You’ll never be able to play sport well.” “You’re so uncoordinated.” “You’ll never be as good as Tommy.” “Nobody wants you.” “You don’t understand, do you stupid?” “You must have cheated in the test.” “Why are you here, toad face?” HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

Hearing anybody telling a child that, makes me sick. It is as much a criminal act as cutting off a limb or throwing acid in a face. It dismembers a child for life. It cuts away the child’s self esteem and leaves the child condemned to self loathing and a life of fighting others to over-compensate. It can lead to hatred of others and a life of crime. The child will believe that people are worth nothing because of its own self image.

A young adult reared this way will be a violent, possessive partner and parent trying to establish their place in the world. It’s what they need to prove their worth to themselves, not knowing that rule by fear is wrong.

The other way is to crawl into a mental shell and fear ever trying to achieve anything. Unconsciously justifying failure in jobs and relationships because hurting has become part of them. The older they get, the harder it is to change. The mold is set while they are children.

Why isn’t this self evident common sense?

Back in 1998 psychologists in the Netherlands got two groups to do a mental task. One group had words associated with old age – ‘slow’, ‘old’, ‘wrinkled’, etc. The other group was fed words unrelated to age. The test had nothing to do with the task they performed. They were timed walking down the hall to the exit. The group using the age related words took ‘significantly longer’ to walk the hallway.

That is so simple as a research project as to be laughable. You don’t have to be astute to know that an audience member laughing heartily while watching a funny film induces others to do the same. It’s that easy. So what effect does constant negative input have on the impressionable mind of a child?

Child abuse is usually thought of as being physical but words spoken without raising a loud voice can be just as destructive.

Emotional sabotage of young minds is being perpetuated by ignorant adults who were reared by more ignorant adults. In turn, they’re raising children to do the same thing to the next generation.

Cuts, bruises and broken bones heal. This mental rape of an innocents’ future does not.

There is hope to stop this if the parents understand. But try to get a deeply emotionally driven angry person to realize they are wrong.

Removing the child is an option but under what conditions? Where will the child go? Will it get love, or abuse that love or get abused in a different way?

The carnage of young minds continues.

Yes, I do care passionately about this.

Tell your children you love them and show it. Encourage them to explore knowledge and talents. Let them make decisions. Get them to be self motivating, independent thinkers. You have to be aware of the changes taking place in the world. Your children’s world is not the same as yours was. It never will be. They have to respect you because you gave them the right mental and emotional tools for life, not because you demand it. Be ‘home base’ to them – the safe footing that launches them into the world.

People you will never know will know you, through your children.

They must have self-respect and empathy for others, rights to their own space, time and property but know about the value of sharing and cooperation. “Why” must be answered satisfactorily, not with “Because I said so.” They must know that winning is good but no one excels at everything so even coming last happens. It’s ok.

They must know that life throws everything at you. It is how you deal with it that matters.

Maybe it seems like a daunting task but you’ve got years ahead that will be filled with learning, growing and love.

If that doesn’t happen, it means you have more learning to do.

Life’s an adventure. Enjoy.

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PETS.

Kids have to have a pet. A Goldfish or bird in a cage doesn’t fill the reason why they should have a pet. They need something they can touch, cuddle, play with, take responsibility for, to get them used to caring for another creature.

It not only prepares them for children of their own, but caring for the needs of others in general. Goldfish don’t show emotions. Dogs do, and they are called ‘man’s best friend’ for a reason. Cats are independent but cuddly and cute. There are other animals we can care for but many are illegal to own.

For a glimpse of the future of mankind and his relationship with animals, visit the Great Apes Project. Once you get over the idea and look to the future to see humans and other living creatures helping each other to survive and prosper, shades of the mythical Garden of Eden start to form. Your children will see this change taking place.

Pets can run around with children better than any adult and we know they can be trusted. In a way, pets become baby sitters for a while. The responsibility associated with caring for a pet is a lesson in life that can’t really be taught another way.

Just learning the companionship of a loyal pet is a lesson. Teaching it to do things requires patience and learning technique. The rewards of a pet with children far outweigh the minor cost and occasional inconvenience involved.

The death of a pet prepares the child for the trauma of loved ones leaving. They more easily realize the consequences and signs of age or of reckless actions like running onto a road. These things happen. The child should be prepared through experience.

A side-line here – if you live on a semi rural property, get a couple of geese. They’re better than dogs in the sense of being ‘watchdogs’. But keep them outside the house. They poo wherever they feel like it.

A friend asked, “What do you define as a ‘child’?”. The purpose of this blog is directed to babies and children up to the age of puberty. It is quite broad and could be divided into two blogs but the idea is to go with the flow of where you take it.

As Dean Martin said, “Keep those cards and letters coming in.” You will determine the path taken but the accent is on providing a well rounded information forum for all.

IQYouth is coming up in a couple/few months’ time. If you want to be part of that, email and we can talk.

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If you are a part of an organization dealing with children or youth, get in touch. If I believe in your course or cause, I’ll promote it.

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Visit our other site at IQAdult.blogspot.com It’s a self help site covering a wide range of topics.

Besides posting your comments, you can also send email to iqchildren@gmail.com

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Keep well. Jay Ross.

IQ Children, our future.

Reading is an essential part of a child's education. We don't have to wait for school to start the interest in reading for fun or information. This can be done as early as the cradle with hanging mobile letters or pictures of labeled animals or fruit. These colorful pictures are available as curtains and horizontal wallpaper strips as well.

As they grow, point to these letters and say the name of the subject. You can say the name of the letter and how it sounds. Do this often. Don’t expect a response just yet but you can be sure you’re influencing the conception that these symbols mean something.

Talking to children is second nature, people do it naturally and reading to them should be the same. A bedtime story shouldn’t be the only time they are read to. They have to know that stories come in books and see others reading.

When reading to them, show them the pages and often point to the words as they’re read. This helps identify meaning with the words. Tell them, “This word means ‘cat’.” In time they’ll ask what other words mean and that is exactly what we want.

Brightly colored pages are best for holding the attention just as movement is attention grabbing for us. Tell them the color of the page or objects on the page. Say that the dog is white with brown spots. Ask if they remember the color of the previous page.

Put their books in the bookshelf in their room so they know where they are. When they start selecting the book they want, it means they’re identifying and making decisions.

Above all, do not force anything. They are children. What they get pleasure from will be remembered in a general sense and narrowed to specifics later. If reading is constantly interesting, it will reinforce the value of doing it alone.

In spite of the doubt that spurned Time magazines’ cover- “Is the book dead?” of many years ago; the book will be with us in some form for a long time to come. Words, properly used, are the essence of complex communication. Teaching your child early gives them a head start in life.

All teaching methods have their detractors. That’s not surprising seeing that English spelling is in great need of an overhaul. We have the ‘ough’ in ‘through’ and a completely different sounds in the words ‘bough’ or ‘rough’.

Many letters have hard and soft sounds or change in union with other letters. Some are pronounced differently in different contexts. The word ‘read’ is said as ‘red’ and ‘reed’. We deal with it, but to a child it’s confusing. Understand this. It is not the child’s fault.

Most children will be reading independently by age seven but are capable of doing this well before that age. Let them do it at their own pace and let the value of reading settle in.

Forcing development may have the opposite effect of making the child dislike what will be a chore. Be careful.

If you see difficulties, have tests done on eyesight and hearing. Check hearing because there may be confusion about the sounds of letters. Emotional problems will slow a child’s progress in any learning, so look at the environment. If parents are arguing or not present when needed, the child’s mind is not going to bother with reading.

The environment is vital to development in any form of learning. Be seen to be reading and have books, magazines and newspapers as part of everyday life. They learn from example.

I’ve heard parents say they won’t let their children read comics. Why? The words and pictures go together to tell a story just like they’re used to. As they mature, they’ll grow out of comics and read words for their own sake. Banning something often has the effect of making the child more curious.

Make a point of asking the child about what they’ve read. This helps memory and recall and forces the child to summarize what has been read. You’ll also find what the child thinks is the most interesting aspect of the story. It’s a good indicator of intellectual and emotional status.

Everywhere we go there are words. There is no shortage of material to use, from their own name, their street name, to the advertising and instructions on packets. There are recipes to read, games with cards to read, word puzzles and funny uses for words. Use all this stuff in a fun way. Soon the little readers will want to become little writers too. We’ll leave that for another edition soon.

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I asked a friend who is the mother of five to have a say about different topics. She told me she was too busy to fit anything else into her life. With five kids is it any wonder? But she totally made my day with this email. Here’s Catherine.
Cot death (SIDS):

There is a great deal of information about cot death available. Although the medical profession has not given a definite cause, they do know that some things are more likely to trigger stress induced breathing that results in cot death. A number of years ago the doctors from the cot watch program where asked to create a monitor for children that were at risk. The monitor found that babies that had been immunized displayed stress induced breathing up to a month after immunization where un-immunized children didn't.

Babies in homes where people smoked or where there was inappropriate ventilation or over heating also displayed stress induced breathing. While researching this further they discovered that in Japan children are not immunized until they are at least two years old and that they have the lowest rate of cot death in the world. It was their belief that immunizing a child that was already at risk due to environment or medical conditions increased the chance of the child suffering from stress induced breathing, resulting in cot death. Immunizing these children has the potential to cause more harm and side effects than the supposed benefits of immunization would give.

Babies that did not die from cot death after an episode of stress induced breathing (post immunization) suffered greater respiratory problems, compromised immune systems, lowered level of oxygen in the blood. They concluded that immunization of babies should be stopped and if it was deemed necessary that immunization not be given until the child was at least two years of age and the immune system had had a chance to develop.

What are your thoughts about immunization and medications in general? Fluoridation of our water supply is another topic that raises concern in many parents. Why not make fluoride available to whoever wants it rather than mass medicating a city?

Hyperactive children are given drugs to enable both parent and child to cope. What causes hyperactivity? Type “hyperactive children” into Google. You’ll get a lot of sites dealing with the problem and a lot of marketers selling their wares. The cause as far as I understand it is in the food we fill ourselves with.

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Send comments. This should be a weekly event from now on. Glad to have you with us.

Take care,

Jay Ross.

IQ Children is about opening mental doors.

Hello and welcome,

Nature, God, biology, karma, or whatever cause you select to blame or praise for your own, or your child's mental condition is irrelevant. The fact is we are all born with abilities and disabilities.

Here we want to talk about developing natural talent to greater heights and minimizing the effect of difficulties with young children.

Stimulating latent talents basically comes down to exposure to stimulation. That sounds self-evident but when you consider the realm of music for instance; most children hear pop music. That's it. Mozart, operetta, blues, varieties of Jazz never get a chance.

With art, do they know that it's not just aesthetic pictures? Why does a painting or photo pull the response it does? What is the artist telling us?

Alphabet curtains and blocks familiarize the child with words and encourage verbal expression. Listening to us speak teaches how to communicate. What is the predominate mood in your household?

A child can grow up in a two or three language environment and understand not only what is being said, but differentiate between the use of each language. It will grow up knowing each language without being taught.

The child's mind is a sponge. Expose it to stimuli and it will grow without effort on its part. So what do we need to equip our children for clear mental functioning in life?

The child learns by doing, finding out first hand is play and learning combined. If we want to teach we must do it the way the child naturally learns. They find that sugar tastes sweet by tasting it, not by being told. We can associate the sensation of sweetness with a word; "sugar" in this case.

Say the word "lemon" and give the child a lemon wedge. It will go straight into their mouth. You know what's next so make that facial expression and say "lemon" again. The child has learned by doing and association.

What we want to do with IQ Children is promote learning and the pleasure it gives, so that they enter teen years with the attitude of discovery toward learning. We also want a well adjusted child emotionally; one who is adaptable to life's challenges.

Your children will see more changes than ever before in history. It is our job to set a firm foundation to support whatever path they choose. I don't agree that we should set their path . We should present all the facts.

Your input is important. Your thoughts count, so be a part of this new experience.

In regard to your comments, we will only publish those that deal with the topic not the person who you may dissagree with. This is in keeping with how we should treat our children. It's not "You are wrong." it's "That is wrong." and support it by fact. This may be difficult at times but raising children has the effect of raising ourselves too.

A lot of things are planned so watch the next few weeks.

The edress is iqchildren@gmail.com