Ask your brain.

One of the lessons I learned from my daughter - Nafeesa - when she was in Montessori school in New York (very long time ago) was her getting more independent in using her own mind. We always have discussion with her class teacher and school's Director about her mental growth etc; and they kept on hammering us (the parents) the important of getting the kid's brain to work.

The child is an 'absorbent mind' at the age of 0-3 yrs old. It means their brain will just take and keep everything that pass through them, like a sponge. This process continue in primary level and slowly diminish as age kick in. So don't neglect nor under-estimate this natural process. (Our kid is not 'slow' - they just need help in processing things.) If your kid is having some problem in his attention-span, concentration and thinking; here some tips:

1. Reduce usage of 'junk-food' in your kid's daily menu - that can easily trigger many undesirable effect in your kids behaviour;
2. Play repeat-game : You mention 3 numbers and ask your kids to repeat them after 3 minutes. You can ask him to repeat them one more time after 5 and 10 minutes afterward;
3. Encourage your kid to use his brain. How?

• Don't simply answer anything he ask you. You ask them back the same question. That will get your child to start thinking.
• Direct your kid's curiosity towards certain books that will explain him more of what he was looking for. This is very important. Make a point to buy books for their reference.
• "Ask your brain" - ...you just said it! :-)

The teachers at Sri Ayesha were trained to use this techniques and more. We should free the kids' brain & mind from thinking what we, the adult, want them to think if we want them to be a better breed of human being - those who can use brain. They can turn out to be a better doctor than us; a better educator than us; a better engineer than us; a better in everything... Any the good thing is that, they will also have strong faith in Allah SWT and practicing Islam in their daily life.