How To Boost Your Child's Cognitive Development

A continuous sound of toys falling from the plastic tray disturbed my sleep on a weekend. Staying up late at night, getting up early in the morning, battling the household chores and rushing to work was a 5-day drill of every week. So, some peace was required during the weekends.

It was Joy’s routine activity every day as informed by my mum. Throughout this activity, I noticed something unusual that my son was trying his level best to put things on a plastic tray and walk with it.

I saw him putting several toys on the tray and trying to walk with it. But before he could reach his destination the toys would fall off the tray. He tried walking with the toys on the tray a couple of times, but all his efforts were in vain. Despite this, he didn’t get fed up. He analysed the situation to work it out. Now he picked two toys at a time and this time the toys didn’t fall. His face lit up and then there was no stopping him. Joy picked one more toy, kept it on the tray and walked without any hassle.

It was an example of how intelligently he used his brain to analyse the situation, experimented with different methods and executed them. We must know that apart from physical growth young children are also growing mentally. In the medical world, this is termed as Cognitive Development.

By the age of 6, 90% of brain development happens^ and kids tend to advance their skills in observing and interacting with the world around them. It is important for parents to track the Cognitive abilities of their children associated with memory, reasoning, problem-solving and rational thinking. A psychologist has rightly called children “Little Scientists” as they actively try to make sense of the world rather than simply soaking up information passively.

These years are critical for brain development, and what they eat affects their focus and cognitive skills. Vitamins and minerals are the nutrients that keep the brain in tune. They are key to building and rebuilding the brain.

Foods such as cereals, pulses, high-protein non-veg foods, vegetables, fruits, yogurt, a nutritional drink that contains essential fats, Vitamins and minerals not only help in physical development but also boost cognitive development. Since I have tried and tested Junior Horlicks, I can certainly say it is a good nutritional drink to start with.

Your child’s little brain is constantly growing as it soaks up everything around it and figures out how to think, react, and solve important problems.

Well, it’s a fact that children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently and therefore, have different nutritional needs. Being a mum myself, I really make sure that my little one gets plenty of these key nutrients to get a smart start.