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Enhancing a Child's General Knowledge
By Jamie Miller
With the advent of search engines that can summon up answers at the
click of a mouse, how important is developing your child's general
knowledge?
In a competitive job market, very important, it would seem. With more
and more graduates competing for the same jobs, businesses are having to
consider new ways of differentiating the best from the very best.
The person who can engage clients on a range of interests is now the
person who bags the job.
So how early can you begin developing your children's general knowledge?
According to new research, a child's brain becomes particularly
responsive somewhere between the age five and puberty. This is the
reason very young children find it easier to learn a second language
when compared to adults.
Critical periods of development may then continue throughout childhood,
during which the brain starts forming crucial maps of neuron pathways,
which can serve a person for life.
So start early.
Unlike other important skills, developing your children's general knowledge
is inherently fun-based. Children love to play - and general knowledge
is best developed by engaging your child in games and quizzes. Listen to
some of the best quiz-players in the world, who credit their
capabilities to playing Trivial Pursuit as a child.
Getting your child to label a world map can not only be a fun task for
the child – but will endow them with a basic sense of geography that
will serve them for the rest of their life. Important when you consider
a 2008 poll showing that 37% of Americans were unable to locate their
home country on a map.
If you want to motivate your child even further, add a reward to the
mix. Instead of simply making your child earn a treat through good
behaviour and household chores, make their earning contingent on
successfully completing a quiz you design. If you set the quiz at the
end of the week and give your child time to prepare, you will be getting
them familiar with the nature of a test and help them develop key
revision skills, which will serve them throughout their school life. The
quiz should not be so hard that they fail: it is the process rather than
the content which is more important. The satisfaction that comes with
being able to complete the quiz will also further encourage your child's
desire to be knowledgeable.
Since research has shown that new information can only be retained when
it attaches itself to existing knowledge, you will be doing your child a
huge service by expanding their core knowledge.
Jamie Miller is the author of ‘How To Become A Quizzing Genius' and helps people
who want to improve their general knowledge. His website is: www.quiz-genius.com
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