A Smart Brain Is a Creative Brain

Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten: Raise IQ points by up to 30 points and turn on your child's smart genes Points
by David Perlmutter, M.D., Carol Colman

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In recent years, there has been an emphasis on beginning academic training for children at younger and younger ages. We live in a very competitive world, and parents are afraid that if they don't push their children to learn how to read or how to do simple arithmetic at very early ages, they will fall behind and not do well in elementary school. Nothing could be further from the truth. The choice of early academic intervention, especially the kind of "drill and test" activities that are so popular today in many preschools, is the wrong approach. Instead of building great brains, we are merely creating tape recorders that can regurgitate information but cannot synthesize it to come up with new ideas. At a time when a child should be encouraged to be creative, which is the foundation for advanced thinking, many children are being loaded down with facts. More and more preschools are adopting a curriculum that pushes children into early academics. More and more elementary schools are eliminating creative outlets such as recess and music and placing more emphasis on academics, or more specifically, "teaching for test." I have nothing against academics, and I certainly believe that children need to be taught the basics, but, ultimately, this trend is going to result in poor performance at school in upper grades where critical thinking is essential. There is no scientific evidence that the push to engage preschool-age children in early academics actually works, and in point of fact, there is some evidence that they may turn out to be more stressed and less creative.

Any child can memorize his ABCs or learn to count if he is drilled long and hard enough, but these are not highly effective brain-building activities. It's far more important for the developing brain to learn the symbolic nature of letters and words than how to spell, as well as to fully understand what numbers mean and how to identify different shapes. You want your child to understand what these letters represent - that they are symbols and that they are made of shapes, and that numbers are also symbols made from shapes, and each of these symbols means something different.

Creativity is at the core of all problem solving, whether you are solving a math problem, writing an essay, or designing a science project. For example, if your child is confronted with a new challenge, such as a difficult math problem or a challenging essay question, what does he need to succeed? First, he must be comfortable with being in a novel and challenging situation. This comfort level is fostered during the first five years by allowing children to explore challenging situations, engage in creative play, and learn that failure is an option. In other words, it's okay to take intellectual risks. Next, his brain connections need to function at peak performance, allowing him to draw upon a variety of types of stored information from past experiences to find solutions to the new problem at hand. It could be solving a math problem, writing a song, reading a poem with understanding . . . it all requires creativity.

Preventing Problems Down The Road

This book is not only about learning to develop your child's full intellectual potential - I also believe the techniques described here can help prevent many of the learning and behavior problems that are so prevalent today. Once rare, conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are becoming epidemic, affecting 10 to 12 percent of all school-age children. Many children are brought to me by their desperate parents after they have been diagnosed with learning or behavior disorders that make it difficult if not impossible for them to do well in school and in life. I see a lot of unhappy kids who are disruptive, easily distracted, and frustrated with their lives. They don't have the discipline to sit still in a classroom or to learn how to read, or the social skills to maintain friendships. By age 5, they feel like failures, and very often, so do their parents. Their parents feel that they have no choice but to put their children on strong psychoactive drugs and are often coerced into doing so by teachers. I show these parents a better way to treat their children's problems than drugging them into submission. Simple changes in diet, different approaches to discipline, and improved nutrient intake through supplements can make a huge difference in these children's lives. I only wish that I could have gotten to these parents earlier, long before their children began having these problems in the first place, because, as you will soon read, problems such as ADHD are almost uniformly preventable and manageable without drugs.

The Role of Parents

Your job over the first five years of your child's life is to help her develop the best brain possible. There are countless opportunities throughout the day that can help make her smarter, happier, and better prepared for the world. Even if you don't have a lot of time, you can still find a few minutes every day to play a brain-stimulating game with your child, read to your child, and sing to your child. You can support her efforts to be creative by providing a rich home environment in which she can engage in imaginative play. You can make sure that your child lives and plays in as toxin-free and safe an environment as possible, and that she is getting enough brain-building nutrients.

Don't let your child miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

How to Use This Book

How to Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten is divided into six parts.

Part I, "A Brief Window of Opportunity," describes the latest scientific breakthroughs in brain development and explains how you can use this information to help your child.

Part II, "Sharpening Your Child's Mind from Crib to Classroom," provides specific activities designed to build a better brain as well as offering guidelines for television, video games, and computers.

Part III, "Nutrition for a Smarter Brain," tells you everything you need to know about what to feed your child's developing brain to make it smarter.

Part IV, "Creating a Brain-Enhancing Environment for Your Child," alerts you to common toxins found in homes, schools, and playgrounds that can harm a developing brain, and tells you how to keep your children as toxin free as possible.

Part V, "The Brain-Body Connection," covers common medical procedures and conditions that can harm your child's brain. It includes chapters on asthma, ear infections, gluten sensitivity, snoring and sleep problems, head injuries, and vaccinations.

Part VI, "Fighting ADHD by Building a Better Brain," shows how to identify the risk factors for ADHD early, how to contain small problems before they become big ones, and what alternatives are available to the strong prescription medicine typically prescribed for this problem.

Copyright © 2006 by David Perlmutter, M.D.

About the Author

David Perlmutter, M.D., is a board-certified neurologist and founder of the Perlmutter Health Center. He is the author of The Better Brain Book and a recipient of the Linus Pauling Award. Dr. Perlmutter has appeared widely on television and as a speaker. He lives in Naples, Florida.

Carol Colman is the author of a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Stop Depression Now and The Melatonin Miracle. Carol lives in New York City.