Children whose parents ask more questions about events and experiences tend to have significantly better memories than their less-questioned counterparts.
Tell Me More
The development of memory, like many functions, is extremely malleable during the toddler and preschool years. At this age, your child’s memory is particularly responsive to gentle but regular training.
One activity that is undeniable in its memory-boosting power is asking your child questions about past events or activities. Studies show that when parents ask children about details about specific events immediately after they’ve occurred, children remember more information and retain details for a longer period of time than those who are not asked as frequently. Furthermore, and most strikingly, questioning is linked to a stronger memory in general, and not just about the specific events questioned by the parents.
So What?
Strong memory skills are one predictor of school performance across subject areas because memory helps not only to retain facts but also plays a role in how the information is classified and retrieved. Therefore, the stronger your child’s memory skills are, the more they are likely to extract out of each learning experience. Knowing that simple everyday experiences provide opportunities to form a memory ‘gym’ can help you to maximize your child’s memory potential and therefore create important benefits for future academic learning.
A note about the author:
Dr. Randa Grob-Zakhary, MD Ph.D. is the Founder of The Babyboost Institute for Early Learning and Development. Want more tips? Purchase Babyboost: 50 Critical Facts on Amazon.