Experts are always trying to find out how to improve
education and the outcomes for our children.
In the past, education has tended to focus on cognitive
skills – these tend to be fact-based subjects, such as maths, English, art, things like
that.
However, as more research is done and experiments are
carried out with different interventions with kids at different ages and with
different levels of wealth and varying levels of home stability, interesting
facts are beginning to emerge.
Researchers are finding that it’s not the cognitive skills
which are the most important for the success of a person as they grow into adulthood
and progress through their career. In fact, it’s non-cognitive skills that have
a much stronger effect on a person’s earnings, family stability and
relationship success. Non-cognitive skills are things like communication,
empathy, ability to compromise - also sometimes called soft skills.
The good news is that these skills can be taught, and that
parents can have a great effect and help their children have the best start in
life.
The evidence points to what you would intuitively think –
that being in a loving, calm environment with parents who set a good example will help the child’s brain develop
the right networks to help it deal with all kinds of situations in later life.
It’s important to play with your child, giving it lots of
interaction, and teaching it to be patient and able to compromise and not be devastated if it loses a game. Evidence shows that
children that are able to delay gratification bring that skill with them into
adulthood, with excellent benefits.
Reading to your child helps build the bond of closeness, and
shielding them from family instability, stress and arguments will have invaluable effects later on in
life.
