Did you know that the images you provide for your child’s mind are akin to food for the body? Healthy images can nourish and encourage positive growth, particularly at an early age when the brain is developing rapidly, setting a foundation for thought and emotion for life. It brings whole brain balance to your child’s intellectual (and emotional) development by stimulating the right side of the brain.

Why is the right side of the brain important? Because the brain is laterally divided into two hemispheres: the right side and the left side. The left side of the brain is also known as the “logical mind.” The right side is known as the “emotional mind.”

In a nutshell…

LEFT BRAIN (logical mind) = thinking skills, language
Teaching information using logic increases your child’s intellectual understanding and practical problem-solving skills.

RIGHT BRAIN (emotional mind) = creativity, imagination, imagery
Teaching information using imagery builds photographic memory, an instinctual, creative gut understanding of the material.

Most early educational programs focus on left-brain cognitive development. But once the right brain is involved in learning, you have a balanced, whole-brain menu for your child.

TOP TEN IMAGES

When choosing images for your child, please consider the following “diet.” (And, yes, auditory data is recorded as a mental image, too!)

Image 1: Nature
Use pictures representing people and objects from real life. Images formed by Mother Nature contain marvelously varied patterns, shapes, geometric proportion, color and depth.

Image 2: Art
Expose your child to works of art from artists who reached a high level of mastery in their field.

Image 3: Music
Play classical music in the background.

Image 4: Literature
Read to your child! What image will he retain? Words, grammar, vocabulary, and most importantly, YOUR LOVE!

Image 5: Phonic sounds
Teach sounds before letters. Give your child the gift of “phonemic awareness”–the ability to hear the individual sounds of the language before seriously learning the symbols. Play games to increase awareness of these seed sounds: “c”-”a”-”t” is “cat!”

Image 6: Lower case letters
Teach young children the alphabet using lower case letters first. Think about it: How often do you read text that is written completely in caps? Children who begin with only upper case have to relearn the symbols used for actual reading.

Image 7: Informational readers
Choose books that teach! When reading to your child, select stories that teach science facts, history or values. They make connections within the brain that make later learning more of a breeze.

Image 8: Math pictures
Teach quantities before numeric symbols. If a child sees “three” as three fingers, or three apples, before learning about three as the symbol “3″, then the brain is better neurologically wired to calculate and count later on.

Image 9: Flash cards
Ignite your child’s understanding and curiosity by exposing him/her to a wide array of subjects using flashcards.

Image 10: You!
And, last, but definitely not least, the most important image your child will record and refer to far into the future is you and your love. So, smile! Encourage! Radiate unconditional acceptance and respect. Think about what you would like your children to learn and model it. Because the right hemisphere is considered the “emotional brain,” your loving heart is the very best image that you can radiate to your child: through loving words, kind action and unconditional belief in their success!

pamela hickein, a mother of four, is an author, international right brain education master teacher trainer, and one of the founders of right brain kids, llc. pamela currently resides with her family in upstate new york. you can learn more about right brain learning products, training and services on-line at: rightbrainkids.com

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