The words of Dr. Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary biologist & author, seems quite applicable in the way our youngest generation is sprouting up. Raised in the lap of technology, Gen Z is all wired up in technology 24/7. The American Academy of Paediatrics reports that on an average, kids spend up to 7 hours a day on some or other random electronic device. The question is what do they filter and what goes into their brains?
Is your child a passive plodder who needs to be pushed around? Or is he/she a silent observer or perhaps a hyper energy-ball who requires some toning down? At Mind Mentorz we believe that the behavioral patterns of a child are closely associated with his or her mental development. We aim to season and temper the young minds in a magic pot of brain-games, channelizing their energies, creativity, and thought-process in a well-balanced and productive way.
With an impending future where our children will be doing jobs that are ‘not yet invented’, it is essential that we prepare them for a highly competent and hi-tech world where intelligence would rule and machines might dictate. A generation that grew up on life and its circumstances will soon be extinct. We have before us a whole new breed of “tech-lings” who are born into a matrix of coding and programing and being warped in the way they need to grow.
“The way one plays chess always reflects the player’s personality. If something defines his character, then it will also define his way of playing”. The words of Vladimir Kramnik, the Russian chess grandmaster, eloquently sum up the impact of cognitive training. A strategic game like chess not only mirrors the child’s personality but the 'moves' give a peek into the child’s innate character.
Though many more adjectives can be used to describe a Chess Player, the above, gives an overall depiction of a person who has made playing chess, a profession in itself. If we have ever had the opportunity to meet a Grandmaster of Chess, we will know that; though they are a celebrity, they are in fact normal people just like us, normal, but in a little extraordinary way. The brilliance of their mind is clearly seen in the way they handle their game and the game of life. They are trained to think on the spot, plan their moves, strategize and succeed.
It is a competitive world, yes, and though many may disagree, it is a fact and extremely necessary to keep yourself ahead of the competitors. Though it is definitely hard work which takes someone to their desired goal, a thought ought to be given to the young budding ones in our home and what the future holds for them, what issues would they face? Will the problems be the same as what we are dealing with or will it be different. Nevertheless, there can be no harm in preparing them for whatever comes.
Just like our body muscles require a physical workout to stay healthy, even our brain needs some mental exercise to work properly and stay healthy. Some people have a misconception that the learning techniques deployed by the schools are enough and it helps the kid’s brain stay active. But in reality, most of the schools are teaching the children to mug up information instead of understanding the basics of each topic. So can a brain develop by just memorizing things? Definitely not!
With the world becoming more competitive every passing day, school education alone is not enough to prepare the children for tomorrow. Schools do impart knowledge, but they don’t run programs to take care of students who face learning and focus issues. Moreover, school programs are not designed to enhance the children’s soft skills and development of survival skills. The need to thoroughly prepare children for the life’s survival race has given rise to many afterschool programs. Though a lot of parents enroll their kids in multiple afterschool programs to restrict them from wasting their after-school time in unproductive activities, they are not aware of the many benefits that an afterschool program delivers.
To cope up with today’s stressful and highly competitive world, people are planning to prepare their children from the early stages of life. A lot of parents have enrolled their children in yoga classes and several other programs to enhance the physical capability of kids, but there is one mistake that most of them are making. Physical fitness is essential, and it can be attained with the help of a gym, but what about the mental fitness? Isn’t it equally important? The word “fitness” is not limited to just physical health. Both emotional and physical fitness are required in equal proportion to become truly successful in life. Just like a typical gym takes care of the physical fitness of a person, the brain gym takes care of the mental fitness.
In today’s competitive world, competition is not restricted to an adult’s work-life alone. Children also are exposed to fierce competition in academics, extra-curricular activities, and other life areas as well. To help the children get on the top of the game, a lot of parents are getting their children enrolled in different sports programs or other recreational programs. But what about nurturing the child’s mental skills in a fun way? Involving your children in sports and other activities do help their body to become active and less vulnerable to diseases, but sports don’t train your children’s mind to act wisely or become an independent thinker.
Most of us would agree unanimously on the fact that the sole purpose of education is to make us better human beings from an intellectual level. It should teach us skills that help us think better, have clarity of our visions and goals, come up with precise action plans, be empathetic and most importantly handle both failures and success equally. While our current education system does that, there are a few places that have gone an extra mile in helping kids inculcate crucial life skills.
Chess has become increasingly popular in Armenia since early Middle Ages. Chess gained the widespread recognition in the early 1960’s when GM Tigran Petrosian became the World Chess Champion. Chess has now become mandatory in school in Armenia for every child that is over the age of 6. The idea behind the initiative is driven by school officials that strongly believe that a subject like chess can immensely enhance cognitive skills within kids, such as, higher concentration, better memory, improved strategical thinking. Watch the video below to learn more about this incredible move:
Extra-curricular activities – We have been told since time immemorial that it is essential to participate in activities that are separate from our day to day actions.
Let’s take a second to figure out exactly why this is so important. Besides the overused terms such as personality development and forming of a well-rounded individual, we tend to ignore the main purpose of these activities that is to build and improve cognitive function. It is scientifically proven that beginning to work on these skills at an early age helps not only academically but also allows the mind to think differently and perform tasks with more efficiency.
There are classes and then there are classes that are fun and interactive. Mind Mentorz belongs to the latter class of afterschool programs. The fundamentals of an afterschool institute is the same - a safe and secure premises, essential equipments, mentors and coaches. But where we differ is the way we approach our programs.
Here, we believe in collective evolution and all of us develop new skills, learn things, interpret, apply and have fun doing them. One of our major elements we consider as our primal success is the fact that kids love coming back to our classes every week. We have heard personally that they wait to get to classes and participate in our sessions. That is by far the biggest compliment we have ever received.
But how do we do this? How can you make learning fun and still substantially develop kids' cognitive skills? Well, here's how!
The Atmosphere
At Mind Mentorz, we foster an atmosphere that kids love. Such an atmosphere sustains interests in kids and help them be at their best phases of creativity, imagination, competitive levels and more. We add interesting and unique ways to keep our programs and classes fun and interactive so there is active participation and involvement from every kid in the program.
We also leave space for healthy competition in our programs so kids can realize at a very young age that it is important to know where they stand in comparison to others and how they can bring in their unique identity, perspective and thoughts in their work to stand out. Once we set the stage for competition, we see kids going an extra mile in bettering themselves and even helping other kids in the process.
Room for Creativity and Imagination
One of the major things that differentiates kids from us is their ability to be creative and imaginative. Logic to them is ancillary and the focus is more on believing their thoughts are true. Innate features like these are what would lay foundations for discoveries and make the world a better place. When kids come up with something unthinkable, we don't buzzkill by proving them wrong. We let them explore the possibilities and nurture their creativity to make their visions true.
Our robotics and coding classes help achieve this substantially. When they can say they can come up with an idea to remind them to wear white canvas shoes on Thursdays or just pack their homework notebooks, we let them venture into their ideas. At the root of the most offbeat ideas lie solutions.
Communication
If the imagination of one kid is so contagious and exciting, visualize a place of 20 to 30 kids envisioning things together! This is the collective growth we are talking about. When kids talk, they don't just talk about cartoons or games. They talk about their moves in chess, the duration within which they solved the Rubik's cube or an interesting project they are working on. When conversations are about ideas, progress and thoughts, how cannot there be space for mental evolution?
Well, these are just a few of the ways we stand out. We have our excellent coaches and mentors, who become kids when they are around with them. We also have a tailored program structure designed to make them learn newer life skills. If you're keen on taking a personal look on how we take our classes, arrange for a free class today!
Chess is complex. We have to agree to that. The amount of calculations, thought processes and conceptualizations involved are perhaps more in chess than any other game. For a lot of us beginners, it could be a little scary as well, with the fear of embarrassment accompanying each move. When playing, it usually happens that a lot of our calculations go wrong and we end up losing coins. From accidentally losing pawns to completely forgetting about the unguarded queen, we would have seen them all.
March 9, 1943 marked the birth of an incredible young talent. Bobby Fischer became the first American-born world chess champion after defeating his arch rival Boris Spassky. He was also the world’s youngest international grandmaster at the age of fifteen. Bobby was only a six-year-old, when he learnt how to play chess along with his sister by reading the instructions found in a chess set. His sister Joan had picked up the chess board from a candy store below their apartment.
Introducing robotics and to kids has two major takeaways – your kids have the time of their lives experimenting with simple tools and concepts and they learn a lot of new things and skills along the way. It is an interactive and engaging for the kids and when you team them up with a couple of their friends, you could seen an electrifying environment around them. Over the last few posts, we have been emphasizing the importance of teaching robotics to your kids and on this one, we have compiled a few simple projects your kids can work on under your supervision.
There is no denying that kids have grasping skills that cannot be compared to any adult. The sheer focus – regardless of the span – kids have on their task or work lets them quickly comprehend, analyze, interpret and solve concerns appropriate for their age. That is exactly why parents should go an extra mile in helping them inculcate new skills right from an early stage.
It's summer and as parents, most of us are looking for effective and exciting ways to engage our kids. If you have not enrolled your kids to a Summer Camp program, you can still pave way for a productive summer. Though televisions, video games and tablets are fine, kids need constant nurturing in terms of developing new abilities, creativity, logical reasoning and more. That is why we have the most ideal solution that will not just keep the kids engaged but let them have fun while doing it as well.
Gary Kimovich Kasporov, hailing from Russia is one of the greatest players of our time. The more you read about him, his achievements, and his games, the more you will be inspired. Born in 1963, the 55-year-old chess wizard is also known for being a writer and political activist. But give him a chessboard and he would show you what he does best – take down opponents without bloodshed.
