Why Cognitive Skills Are Important For Children

The memory of a person has an ability to learn and process new information. This capacity to adapt and understand new things which could include a high level of perception to certain information or understanding written data, could vary from person to person. Such an ability to interpret and process certain notion is termed as Cognitive Skill. Every individual has his or her own level of capacity to cognitive functioning which usually develops during the childhood. At an early age children are more adaptive in learning new skills and functions. As compared to an adult, a child can absorb and analyze information to greater levels. And hence learning to improve cognitive skills for children is very important at an early age.

Six Important Cognitive Skills

- Memory.

- Attention.

- Processing.

- Perception.

- Mobility.

- Logic and Reasoning.

Need of Cognitive Skills for Children

In today's competitive world nothing is easy. Not even for children! The competition starts right at the school level and continues to rise every single level. Smart kids make their way through but certain children cannot always work up their way to the top. This is where the development of cognitive skills for children comes handy. The development of cognitive skills not only helps in a child's progress but it also improves other key areas pertaining to his or her academics such as  learning, attention span, memory  and perception. A child with improved cognitive skills can grasp and comprehend way better than other children. And this evaluation of information by a child works in a positive manner in his or her  overall development.

Teaching Cognitive Skills to Children

Every parent dreams about their child's excellent academic and social growth. They wish their child grow smarter and do well in his life. As every plant needs regular dose of water, sunlight and good care to grow, so does children. Certain cognitive skills such as perception, concentration, memory, logical thinking, and thought process needs proper learning as these skills need to be taught.  Every single parent out there should be aware of this fact that cognitive skills need to be 'taught' . For example, a child may pay attention in the class but still be unable to focus or concentrate on the words he is been taught. And concentration is one of the important cognitive skill a child needs to learn to perform well academically.

In the similar manner, no progress could be achieved from a child who has problem in recalling what he had learnt. If a child has a habit of forgetting what is been taught to him, then it is important to work in this area by teaching cognitive skills which would benefit  in improving his memory.  Not just teachers but even parents need to play an important role in this matter. At an early age children can learn these cognitive skills and absorb way better than adults. And hence it is important to empower a child to grow smarter by sharpening his cognitive skills.

Family Tree Poem by Ron Tranmer

I came across this poem on family tree which is inspirational and beautiful. It touches the chord and makes you smile.

 Family Tree Poem

      - By Ron Tranmer

There's love within our family tree

and happiness abounds.

It's roots are deeply planted

in rich and fertile ground.

We enjoy the rays of sunlight,

and endure the winds and rain.

And when a leaf falls from our tree,

together we share the pain.

God gave us earthly families

and never did intend,

that bonds of love built on earth,

upon our death would end.

For when our life is over

and from earth our souls will flee.

one by one, leaf by leaf

we will rejoin our family tree.

Finest Example of Presence of Mind - Whistler in the Class

Presence of mind is a state of mind where one can stay calm and yet manage to deliver. Sharing one of the story from the net that relates to it. The tile of this story is 'Whistler in the Class'!

A Professor started his class on a very serious topic. The moment he turned towards the blackboard, one of the students whistled. He turned, looked at the class and asked the whistler's name. No one answered.

The Professor peacefully kept the Pen in his pocket saying: "Lecture ends here. I'll tell you a story to utilize the remaining time". Everyone became interested. "Yesterday night I tried hard to sleep, but it was miles away from my eyes, so I thought I'd better get petrol in my car, which will save my time next morning and might induce sleep. After having my tank full, I started roaming in that area, enjoying the peace of a traffic free ride. Suddenly, in the corner I saw a girl who was as young and beautiful as the clothes she was wearing. Out of courtesy, I turned my car towards her and asked if I may be of any help. She asked me if I could drop her to her home, she'll be very obliged, to which I agreed.

She sat in the front seat with me. We started talking, and to my amazement she was very intelligent, had control on many topics which many youngsters don't. When we reached her address, she admitted my courteous nature and behavior and accepted that she had fallen in love with me.I also admitted her intelligence and beauty and that I've also started liking her. I told her about my job as a professor in the university. The girl asked my number, which I gave her willingly. Then she asked me a favor, to which I couldn't have denied naturally.

She said that her brother is a student in the same university, and asked me to take care of him, since we'll be in a long relationship now. I asked the name of the student. She said that I'll recognize him with one of his very prominent quality, He whistles a lot! All eyes in the classroom turned towards the boy who had whistled.

The professor said: " Young man, I didn't buy my Ph.D in Psychology.. I earned it”.

Essay - Failure in Life

Encountering failure is one of the biggest challenges known to mankind. Not everyone is good at handling failure. One may overcome the biggest challenges to achieve success but when it comes to handling failure, not everyone can tackle it. Each individual has his own way of tackling failure. It is a whole different story for each one of us. Some may accept failure and learn to fight a way through it by trying again. Some take failures as graciously as they could while some miserably mess things up. Here is a story that I recently learnt which tell us about how not having the strength to handle failure could lead to serious repercussions. 

There was a very brilliant boy, who always scored 100% in Science. He got selected for IIT Madras and scored excellent in IIT. He then went to the University of California for MBA and got a high paying job in America and settled there. 

He got married a beautiful Tamil girl and bought a 5 room big house and luxury cars.

He had everything that made him successful but a few years ago he committed suicide after shooting his wife and children.

So, WHAT WENT WRONG?

California Institute of Clinical Psychology Studied his case and found “what went wrong?”  The researcher met the boy’s friends and family and found that he lost his job due to America’s economic crisis and he had to sit without a job for a long time. Even after expecting a job with less salary than his previous, he didn't get any. 

Since he couldn't manage keeping steady his house installments, the family lost the home. They survived a few months with low money and then he and his wife together decided to commit suicide. He first shot his wife and children and then shot himself.

The case concluded that the man was programmed for successes but he was not trained for handling failures. Now let's come to the actual question, 

"What are the habits of highly successful people?"

People often share their success stories but very few share their battles and struggles to success. Many fail miserably in their early attempts of success and then rise to shine.  Nothing is predictable in life. There are risks and possibilities. At any point of time, one may lose what he owns. Here is a quote that speaks the same, 

" Life is like a river, 

sometimes it sweeps you gently along and 

sometimes the rapids comes

out of nowhere."

What this means is that when we plan to start something new, nobody can predict how things would go on. We can desire success, but we should learn to accept failures too. Failures make us who we are. They help us learn things and give us experiences that we knew nothing about. Hence one of the most important success habit to share is to learn to handle failures. 

Same lesson applies to the kids. We want our children to gain success in everything they do. Seldom we teach our child that it is okay to fail. When a child fails we get disappointed which in turn disappoints the child. But instead of programming our child to be successful we should prepare them to handle failures which is one of the most important life lesson you could teach your child.

What it Means to Let Go?

When we say we want to let go of things, what does it really mean? Letting go means a lot more than one can think. The let go meaning is all about taking care of yourself and keeping oneself from getting hurt. Just came across this wonderful post and felt like sharing. Please do read...

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring.

It means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off.

It's the realization that I can't control another.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness,

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another.

It's to make the most of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for, 

but to care about.

To "let go" is not to fix, 

but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge, 

but to allow another to be a human being.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle, arranging all the outcomes,

but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To "let go" is not to deny, 

but to accept.

To "let go" is not to nag, scold, or argue, 

but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires,

but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to regret the past, 

but to grow and live for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.

The Beautiful Moon Poem

This 'The Beautiful Moon' Poem is beautiful. This poem refers to the moon as 'she' and talks about her loneliness but still about her ability to lock up her emotions and guiding those who are in need of light to show them the way. I hope everyone enjoys this poem the way I did!

The Beautiful Moon Poem

 - By Unknown

How beautiful is the moon,

Glowing bright in the night skies.

Hiding herself during noon,

So you'll never know if she cries.

Alone she sits in the sky,

Guiding those who need the light.

Warming the hearts of those who cry,

But always keeping herself locked up tight.

Though surrounded by many stars,

In solitude she rather be.

A consequence produced by scars,

Shh... Can you hear her silent plea?

Away from people, away from pain,

She hides herself, in plain sight.

I've told you once and I'll tell you again,

The story of a beautiful moon

Whose light glows brightest at night.

Thinking is Like a Seed

Thinking is like a seed. Thinking about something is like planting the seed in your heart. What you think, grows within you. Thinking about the same thing everyday is like watering the seed of thought everyday to germinate and take the shape of a plant.

Once you start to overthink, you nurture the plant with your energy which acts as a fertilizer to grow more and more branches and blossom.So it is all about how much importance you give to this thought that shapes the future of this plant which will grow as a creeper and cling to every part of your mind and your brain. This creeper is nothing but a parasite that firstly, feeds on you to grow  and then overpowers you.

Once it does that it engulfs around you and there is no escape. The dark energy from this overthought creates its own space which do not leave a space of our own. What follows is a series of bad thoughts that scare us to the core.

Instead what one can do is absorb positive energy which can blossom the plant with positivity. The power of positive thought is unimaginably great and it helps people to gain courage and hope. Once you believe about being positive you summon courage to cope with life problem's more optimistically.

As this quote goes,

"A happy thought is like a seed,

that sows positivity for all

to reap."

Always try to find things that keep you grounded and to develop those strong beliefs. This way no matter how crazy the winds of life blows at you, you will stand tall, firmly planted and not easily uprooted.