Raising children is a difficult task and it is only made harder by the cultural and societal differences for parents. There are many milestones children need to undergo that will affect their academic, emotional and overall holistic development.
Asian parenting, for example, is highly competitive, often purely focusing on academic performance and relegating other areas such as sports and emotional development to the sidelines. Western parenting on the other hand, however, is the often at the other end of the spectrum, with many countries placing emphasis and focusing away from purely on academics. Instead, they are turning towards societal roles and relationships with children finding motivations more from themselves and disregarding authoritative figures. A study from 2014 suggests that these culture-centric approaches are both equally effective, yet finding a middle ground between the two yielded surprisingly better results.
Combining the Asian parenting based on a strong academic ethos with an independent focus from western parenting could be the best way to create a well-rounded approach to see your child succeed, not only academically but, in life. Holistic development does just this and looks at the entire wellbeing of your child. It uses different aspects that complement each other including;
Holistic development works by developing the underlying emotions and functions that produce a strengthened foundation required for healthy and happier adults. This foundation provides a structure to build upon in academia as well as life because of the resulting benefits which include:
The long-term benefits of this approach could mean your children will become better communicators and have advanced social skills to apply in their future lives, as well as in their academic scores.
Holistic development focus is not a new concept either, Maria Montessori, Italian educator and physician, recognized the power of holistic development and made it her calling to spread the word. She did this by founding the Montessori education philosophy, which is now influencing parenting and teaching methods in the modern era.
“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.” - Maria Montessori
This is what holistic development attempts to pursue, to create an excellent foundation to support the desire to learn and develop key skills throughout life. Of course, a love of learning and these base skills improve academic results and focus, but it’s the long-term prospects and life skills that are the most important here. Holistic education avoids the normal (and often unrealistic) expectations of educational or societal systems, particularly for those children with attention deficits or those who struggle with traditional education methods. Holistic development is rooted in the idea that children respond and engage better when being taught in a natural way. It uses academics as the foothold for emotional and social development, leading to cultivating more well-rounded children and individuals of the future.
There are already institutions promoting holistic education in the form of what is often termed “forest schools” which are becoming a popular replacement for pre-schools and younger education levels. These schools focus on a holistic approach and building cognitive development, key life skills and an emphasis on learning outside the normal academic boundaries and restrictions.
Cognitive development, in particular, revolves around the core pillars taught within this holistic approach. Elements like memory, problem-solving, decision making, thought processes and other executive functions are focused on and developed to strengthen the base learning. Furthering a child’s own emotional development that can then be built upon and as these studies have shown can complement holistic development well.
Using cognitive control creates the building blocks to underpin emotion regulation and development as well as boosting memory. This longitudinal study of cognitive development demonstrates that cognitive educational interventions can reverse the decline of academic performances and even improve performance in those who have a stable learning curve showing a tangible difference in academic advancement using cognitive development.
By combining technology and gamification, the NeeuroFIT programme aims to enhance cognitive development for a holistic approach to learning and life. The programme uses Neeuro’s Senzeband and Memorie app to train the user’s cognitive abilities through different games, and also includes a baseline assessment and analysis of the scores and mental effort during training.
Incorporating this gamification and ingenuity allows children to develop and improve their memory, problem-solving skills and boost their focus time. This creates an engaging environment that also allows for this level of deeper development to take place and helps
Using activities like this, which stimulate your child’s learning patterns on multiple levels aims to holistically help your child by encouraging cognitive development and strengthening their foundation of learning for years to come in an engaging way. To learn more about our brain training programme and Neeuro’s Memorie app, visit our website and find out how it can help your children.
Neeuro works globally with partners such as training providers, technology system integrators and schools to benefit children. Using modern solutions for cognitive training, cognitive skills such as attention and memory are emphasized and honed. NeeuroFIT aims to improve every child's academic success via better learning outcomes.
Click on the banner below to learn more about Neeuro and what we can offer you as a partner!