“Life is more fun if you play games”. As individuals belonging to the 21^st century, we live in a world that is fairly different from the one that used to exist at the time of our parents or elder siblings. Today, the concept of playing games for mental strength is foreign to us as we’re addicted to the world of social media and Netflix.

Do you recall playing different games on the computer back as a kid when you had fixed screen timings? We’re sure you used to have a lot of fun. If you would like to cherish and re-visit those memories again, then we have a solution for you.

Mentioned below are top ten memory games which you can try out with your friends, just for fun, to keep a check on your mental strength:

1. Word Finder

How about we start with an easy yet fun game that we used to play in our childhood as well? Do you remember those weekend magazines with word finders that you used to solve with a pencil, all in one go?

If you’re good with words and have the skill of spotting them quickly, you’ll love this word finder game at Unlimited Gamez MO Word finder games help you improve your memory along with language learning. If you want to feel smart, then you should definitely give this game a try. You can start playing at the most manageable level and then move up to medium and hard levels as soon as you get the knack for it.

2. Sudoku

When you were young, did you ever come across a weird game that included numbers, and you couldn’t figure out what kind of game it was? Well, that’s Sudoku for you.

Sudoku is a popular number placement game that helps improve short-term memory. You have to keep in mind a sequence of numbers to complete the Sudoku puzzle while mentally calculating the following number in the box.

This game requires heavy concentration, which is why many people give up in the end. If you’re interested in playing, we recommend you try out the easiest levels of this game. If all goes well, then you can always look for the difficult Sudoku puzzle levels.

3. Crosswords

Crosswords are one of the most popular games. Trying out different crosswords is always a delight as they are a classic brain trainer and improve your vocabulary.

Were you aware that around 50 million people solve crossword puzzles every day? Sounds fascinating, right?

Crosswords puzzles are a great invention to keep your brain and mental strength active and sharp all the time. They help boost your memory and are an excellent solution for people who have dementia and Alzheimer’s.

If you love crossword puzzles and could spend all day solving them, you’ll be happy to know that there are many ways to do crosswords. You can download an application on your phone or tablet and choose the crossword topics that are gripping and challenging to solve.

4. Chess

One of the most intellectual and analytical games around; you wouldn’t want to miss out on chess. When playing chess, many new players hesitate to take part as it seems complicated and demanding.

Chess is all about relying on your memory and carefully picking your next move. If you know how to do that, then you’re good to go.

You’ll see that with time and experience, you will become a pro at chess, and all the strategies and tricks will be at your fingertips.

Moreover, chess improves brain function, cognitive abilities, deepens focus, and boosts the planning skills of a person. Aren’t these benefits enough for you to put aside your fears and at least give the game a try?

5. Scrabble

Are you spending most of your time playing action games like the call of duty? If the answer is affirmative, you need to try out a new game to enhance your mental strength.

We’re sure that you must be aware of scrabble; after all, it is one of the most well-known games that many people play all around the globe. If you’re looking for ways to improve and keep a check on your mental strength and memory, then Scrabble is a classic option.

It enhances your brain development and vocabulary by encouraging you to compete with players and create unique words. The better words you come up with, the higher your score will be.

You’ll be astonished to know that playing a game like scrabble increases the size of your brain, delays brain degeneration in the elderly, and makes you more competent and competitive.

6. The Tray Game

We’re already excited as this one’s a personal favorite for many of us. If you can’t recall it, then no need to worry as we’re getting right into the details.

The tray game is a classic memory game that is all over the Internet for the past few years. It includes a setting where there are a bunch of things, and you have some seconds to peak at them. Once the time is over, you’re supposed to guess all of the present items in the tray.

Does it sound stressful? Yes, it’s de-stressing and a lot of fun to play once you are smitten with the game. Trust us when we say that it’s the opposite of stressful.

7. Jigsaw Puzzles

Do you remember dragging your parents or siblings to the nearest stationary or toys shop so you could get your hands on the latest puzzle pieces?

No matter your age, completing Jigsaw puzzles is always fun, especially if you have someone to compete with. They are a fantastic option for improving and strengthening your mind along with sharpening your memory.

Thanks to the Internet, there are multiple types of Jigsaw puzzles that you can choose from, along with the difficulty levels. If you have trouble concentrating, you can start with the smaller and easier puzzles, and once you get the hang of them, you can move onto bigger ones.

8. Uno

If you haven’t played this game ever before, sorry to say but, you haven’t discovered the absolute pleasure in life. Let’s be honest. How many times did you forget to yell out “Uno” when you had one card left, and then everyone forced you to pick another one?

One of the most common card games amongst adults and children, Uno, comes with its own rules. It is a great game for the brain as it pushes you to remember every rule at each step of the game.

Just like chess, it helps develop strategic thinking and emotional intelligence. It is a good option for mental stimuli and promotes brain health.

9. Solitaire

Another prominent card game, Solitaire, is a one-person game known as a card puzzle. It helps increase the mental activity in your brain and promotes brain sharpness. The objective of the game is to use all of the cards in a particular sequence and arrangement.

While many people are confused about Solitaire rules, all you need is some skills and patience, which many people lack when playing games.

Playing Solitaire for an extended period helps develop cognitive function, memory improvement, and good mental strength.

10. Brain Teasers

Brain teaser games include different puzzles that get you thinking about what the answer might be. To solve these games and get the answer, you need to develop different strategies and think differently than you usually do.

Brain teasers can be like a riddle which means that they develop your learning ability and problem-solving skills. If you include brain teaser games in your everyday routine, you’ll notice how your thinking process and mental capacity have improved and expanded.

Final Thoughts

With the years passing so rapidly right in front of our eyes, it’s vital that we take some time to remain sane and healthy. At such a time, playing memory games can be a wonderful opportunity to spend time, relax, and improve your mental strength.

Do you think playing memory games is important for brain health? If you play any memory games, don’t forget to share your experience with us in the comments below.

Author Bio:
About Michelle Joe: Michelle Joe is a blogger by choice. She loves to discover the world around her. She likes to share her discoveries, experiences, and express herself through her blogs. You can find her on twitter: @michellejoe524

After your child is diagnosed with a type of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you might feel like you cannot do enough to help them. However, your presence and support as a caregiver can do a lot to keep your child in a positive mindset while succeeding in life.

One of the things that parents of children with ADHD should consider is increasing the amount of playtime, outdoor play, exercise play, and play therapy in your child’s life. All around, play can make huge differences in your child’s ability to think, process emotions, and better handle their life.

Why is play so important to children diagnosed with ADHD?

Here are some of the primary reasons that adding more play and activity to your child’s days may help them to cope with symptoms of ADHD more effectively.

Reason #1: Helps Them Sleep

One of the primary symptoms of ADHD for children is over activeness, which is part of the condition that many parents are familiar with. Setting your child up to use more of their energy during the day can help them to sleep better. Sleep is vital to children in general and maybe even more important to children diagnosed with ADHD.

Not getting enough sleep makes most people inattentive; those with ADHD suffer this effect even more severely. Overstimulation and too much energy at nighttime can lead to many problems with falling asleep. When children get more exercise, this improves the brain’s ability to sleep at night, even encouraging more deep sleep.

By giving children play exercise time during the day before a set bedtime, you may be able to help them develop a routine that encourages more consistent sleep.

Reason #2: Provides Exercise

Physical exercise is very important for children with ADHD for several reasons.

One of the most fundamental reasons is that children diagnosed with ADHD are more likely to suffer from obesity which can lead to additional health problems later in life. By incorporating play from a young age, this risk can be reduced drastically.

Additionally, exercise and play give children with ADHD a chance to burn off more energy. Things like organized sports and playtime on the playground give children a healthy way to let out their energy. They can hyperfocus on play and exercise, and these activities have big benefits for children:

• Better concentration
• Lowered risk of depression and anxiety
• Improve brain growth
• Improves ability to sleep

Adding playtime outdoors can be particularly beneficial for children with ADHD. “Green time” spent in a natural setting rather than a concrete jungle gym has been shown to reduce ADHD symptoms more.

Overall, children that struggle with hyperactivity and focus will benefit from adding play and exercise to their lives.

Reason #3: Improves Focus

Some research suggested that children with ADHD may have decreased focus and difficulty planning or controlling emotions due to reduced blood flow in specific parts of the brain.

The Montessori method of education believes that both free and structured forms of play can help to increase blood flow in these brain areas. Active play helps the brain identify structure in the world around them and do a better job of focusing than when play is not encouraged. Riding bikes is one good way for children with ADHD to play; their brain is engaged in unique ways while doing this activity.

Reason #4: Teaches Better Control

One symptom of ADHD often seen in children is the inability to control impulses. Depending on the exact type of ADHD and how it affects your child, their impulsivity can be a major issue in their daily lives.

Play can help children engage with the world in different ways to learn better control of such impulses and their behavior in general. Play gives children a chance to learn about consequences and improve specific areas of their brains without the stress of a classroom environment.

Once those skills are learned, they can be brought into the classroom environment and an improvement in how ADHD symptoms affect a child’s daily life.

Reason #5: Introduces Social Skills

Finally, consider how adding play to a child’s life can improve their social skills. Children that present many symptoms of ADHD can have trouble creating positive social interaction in their daily life.

Playtime, however, creates situations where even children with ADHD can have positive social relationships with other children. Small playgroups, recess, or joining a sports team can be good ways to introduce social skills to a child’s life in a non-threatening way. This opportunity can then allow the child to develop these skills further.

Get Serious About Playtime

Children with or without ADHD can see major benefits from having more playtime in their life. It’s time to make sure that children are allowed this benefit so that they can develop with the world around them more successfully!

• Learn more about available therapeutic tools for play, especially for kids struggling with anxiety.
• Read about behavioral therapy for ADHD and whether or not it’s an effective treatment method.

Most parents seeking parental control software options have kids in their home using multiple computers and devices, all of which are connected to the Internet. Even a single child may have a phone as well as a computer or tablet. They also are often using their parents personal computer from time to time for school projects or simply to print something.

If that isn’t enough to manage, your family members are connecting to the Internet at school or at a friend’s house. With proper parental controls you can ensure the safety and security of your kids online. Otherwise, it’s difficult to know where to begin. It’s hard enough for a person who has some technical savvy, but what if you are technically challenged?

Let’s face it, a lack of technical knowledge is the case for most of us. We live in an ever changing world where the optimal “kid safety zone” is a moving target. This is where parental control software becomes an essential tool in managing the various needs of any family, according to a range of ages and responsibility.

The good news is, effective parental controls allows you to help keep your family safe in one software download, whether you want to access it on an app or your computer. At Safe Search Kids, we recommend complete parental control management to meet the needs of any family large or small.

Let’s explore what parental control means on every device in your home.

Parental Control is Internet Filtering

Internet filtering is certainly the first priority when thinking about protecting kids from harmful aspects of the Internet. This is the primary focus of our search tools on Safe Search Kids, but we are only a single access search engine. Parent control software takes it one step further by filtering the entire Internet, regardless of what search engine your kids may be using.

Quit simply, it allows you to completely control access to the internet including and blocking websites no matter what device is being used.  The level of restriction can be customized by age. After all, the places your 16 years old can go online is much different than your 7 year old. This includes allowing or limiting access on apps and social media, some platforms of which are only appropriate for older kids.

Parental Control is Screen Time Management

Once you have the peace of mind of knowing all the bad areas of the Internet are completely blocked on every device in your home, you can think about controlling the time your kids spend online. Imagine having peace of mind going to sleep at night knowing your teenager is not able to access the internet past 10 or 11 pm.

These controls can easily be set within the dashboard of your account. Likewise, you can restrict access from your 7 year old so that they can not get online after 8 pm, for example. This screen time management control is at your fingertips for any day of the week from the Net Nanny App or desktop dashboard.

Parental Control Software Monitors Apps

The dangers of the Internet are not just through a website browser. With a software application you can also monitor what apps your kids are downloading. You can choose to also block apps you don’t want your family to access at all. As with managing screen time, you can individually customize accessibility for every one in the house and on every one of their devices.

Install our Recommended Parental Control Software Program serving families of all sizes. View family download options.

New apps are being developed and made available on the app store everyday. Whether the app is on an iPhone, Android or Kindle Fire device, you will be notified when a new app is downloaded and installed on any device.

Parental Control is a Location Tracker

Within the parent dashboard, you can also track the location of each family member in real-time from your computer or smart phone. There’s no need to login to an iCloud account and no additional location tracking software is needed. The location tracking feature also allows you to check the past history of where your kids have been.

You can coincide their location with whether or not they’ve been online during that time. Let’s say you agree that it’s OK for your child to go to a friend’s house but you just want them to play. You don’t want them spending time surfing the web or going on social media. This is a way to check up on their activity while out of the house.

Download FamiSafe – Our #1 Trusted Parental Control Software

• Get Started with your Free Account Signup
• Explore FamiSafe Pricing

Alerts and Activity Reports

With all these parental control features working in the background to filter, block, and monitor online activity there is an additional feature that will help you keep track of things. Firstly, only need to initially set up controls and restrictions for each family member one time. From there it’s easy to fine tune controls as needed. 

Get instant alerts when suspicious photos or texts are detected on your child’s phone. Be notified when specific search terms are entered or when an app is being downloaded. What your kids are searching for online is also an insight into struggles they may be having, including bullying or feelings of alienation with friends or at school. Read about how this app even encourages good driving habits with driving history reports.

Safe Search Kids recommends software solutions, which is also a parental control App for Android, iOS and Kindle Fire users, as well as dashboard access on computers and lap tops. Features can be applied on multiple platforms, including Android and iOS smart phones, Kindle Fire, Windows and Mac computers.

FamiSafe is a parental control software and app download created by Wondershare, an innovative company focused on delivering a variety of user friendly tools for individual consumers, education, government, and business markets. They are a reputable and top rated provider of Internet protection tools specifically designed for the non-technical user.

Teaching Internet Accountability and Responsibility

Monitoring and Controlling online activity should always be coupled with showing kids how to be responsible on their own. We all know putting kids in a cocoon will not prepare them properly for life in the read world. Setting up boundaries for kids is of course important, but some of those boundaries can be more lenient for older aged kids while allowing them to learn online responsibility. An internet blocking software can protect kids while they learn how to be responsible with the level of freedom you give them. The older they get and the more responsibly they use that freedom, the more trust we extend.

Download for Free Now

 

Parental Controls answer these questions about your kids’ activities:

1. What exactly are my children doing online or on their mobile phones?

• Are they chatting with social network sites like Facebook, Snapchat?
• Are they visiting pornographic or other inappropriate sites?
• Are they being bombarded with inappropriate ads on pages for guns, cigarettes, drugs or other illegal activity?

2. How much overall time is really spent on a daily basis on their phone and computer talking to friends or other socializing?

Now Here are Some Facts That May Surprise You

1. One in 5 kids between 11-18 have been solicited online.
2. 60% of kids are exposed to porn before age 12.
3. Over 65% of kids have accidentally visited an inappropriate site online.
4. More than 25% of kids have been cyberbullied, but only 10% of these incidents were told to parents.

We trust our kids to do what is right, but there is so much filth lurking on all corners of the internet and as parents, we should be very concerned – even for the innocent child who is 100% aware of all the dangers involved, it is next to impossible for our children to be 100% protected. In addition to our lack of time, it is an impossible task to manually monitor our children’s online activities. The latest internet and mobile technology make it impossible with software working in the background.  This includes cyberbullying prevention made possible by monitoring.

Why Every Parent Should be Using Parental Controls on Every Device in their Home

Even with the most strict guidelines in place, it is nearly impossible to monitor your children’s activity online doing it manually. In the past several years, a new niche of software has been developed to help families monitor overall online and computer activity.

If you have a gamer in the house, parental control software will allow you to control time spent online.  But it’s not an anti-virus program that protects from outsize threats while gaming.  For that explore Gamer Security. 

Parental Control Software is a must.

While there are several in this field, what they all have in common is that the specific monitoring is automated. This does not mean that you can rely on the system 100% of the time to monitor what your kids are doing – parental supervision is essential, whether they are using a laptop, desktop, tablet or mobile phone.

Parental Control Software provides an integrated time management and internet blocking & monitoring solution with the following key features:

• Restrict Internet & Computer Usage based on a customizable schedule or time limits.
• Monitors chatting/instant messaging based on a time limit or schedule.
• Access phone activity reports including what apps they install or uninstall.
• Award-winning automated filter of porn, illegal, vulgar and other inappropriate websites.
• Ability of parent to create White “Trusted” list and Black “Restricted” lists.
• Dynamic Content Blocker – blocks inappropriate banner ads on webpages.

Download our Recommended Parental Control Software

Reduced educational performance typically becomes one of the сhildren’s first stress-responses to divorce, and single moms and dads start blaming themselves for not coping with their newly acquired roles. As a result, they desperately search for suggestions for parents to support student achievement, often shifting the focus away from the real source of the problem.

Indeed, statistics show that there is some relationship between parental divorce and the ability of the child to do well in school. However, it is much more complex.

Research by UCLA sociology professor Jennie Brand found that parental divorce affects a child’s learning only when combined with other inputs. And one of the most important factors is the initial socio-economic status of the family.

The study used data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics program, analyzing about five thousand families. Based on these demographic and socioeconomic factors, they divided all parents into three groups. The first was parents who are likely to divorce, the second was parents who are unlikely to divorce, and the third group was parents with average risks.

In families from the second group, the study found that children were 6% less likely to graduate from school and 15% less likely to complete their college education if the parents did separate.

In contrast, in the group where the father and mother “should have divorced with a high degree of probability,” their separation did not adversely affect the children’s school and college performance. Professor Jennie Brand believes that the study should encourage parents to rethink the concept of preserving marriage for the sake of children in high-conflict families.

As a parent, you shouldn’t let these or any other statistics feed your fears and apprehensions. Each family is unique, and making your child successful depends on you and your particular circumstances, not on statistics.

Although divorce is always a stressful and unpleasant event, it doesn’t have to be a tragedy affecting your child’s entire life. So do not despair! By keeping a positive attitude, you will see how to improve a child’s performance in school and help them deal with the overall emotional impact of divorce.

Here are five pieces of educational advice for parents going through a divorce or who have already divorced.

1.  Play as a Team

Divorce is often a surprise for children, leading to prolonged stress caused by the changes in their routine. Therefore, children worry and want their mom and dad to be back together, like before. Some kids get sick, some misbehave, and some children’s academic performance deteriorates. These issues often attract both parents’ attention, so they begin to communicate, thinking about what to do.

But this is not about the child deliberately manipulating. It can happen unconsciously, especially in primary and secondary age children. They do not always understand the full scope of the situation, so they hope that the parents will reconcile.

If the parents’ decision to divorce is firm and final, their main common goal should be to build teamwork whenever possible. Make sure that the child understands the situation. Talk to the child together, explaining everything without any accusations against each other.

It is essential to outline how the child’s life and routine will change. Uncertainty and variability in the everyday schedule are bad for a kid’s psychological development, so it is not surprising if there is simply no “resource” left for learning.

Besides, even if there is only one primary caregiver and the child spends significantly less time with the second parent, priorities regarding education must be the same and consistent.

It would be best to talk to your spouse about how you would contribute to your child’s education, as each parent’s involvement in this process matters. Both mom and dad should get involved in their child’s life, be interested in the child’s academic performance and everything that happens at school and outside of school.

Where to begin?

• Act interested in what is happening in the child’s life throughout the school year, not just on the eve of tests and exams. Bad grades and low motivation for certain subjects often arise from a lack of understanding of some relatively fundamental but straightforward topics. The longer the problem is ignored, the more frustrated the student becomes.
• Do not scold or punish your child for their poor grades, do not compare them with other children, but do not ignore problems either.
• Keep calm, and approach the situation with concern, not anger.
• Get to the root of the problem, look for the causes of the bad grades.
• Talk to the teacher. The teacher can best help parents understand the school’s academic requirements, expectations in class, and whether more help is needed.
• Be ready to help your child at home. You often do not need to be a specialist to help your child understand a specific task. Sometimes it is enough to show attention and calmly discuss the topics or themes of the lesson together.

An essential condition for helping a child achieve academic success at any age is a trusting relationship between parents and a child, emotional support, and absence of conflicts over clashing parenting or discipline styles.

2.  Significant Others in Children’s Lives

The upbringing potential in a one-parent family is somewhat limited as the control and supervision of children become more complex. Also, when one of the parents is absent from a child’s life, this deprives the child of various options for family relationships.

All these are difficulties that may occur but not necessarily will. You can help your child feel safe and comfortable and show them other (besides marital) models of the adult-adult relationship.

If possible, you can delegate partial responsibility for the child’s education and upbringing to other relatives of any gender. If there is no such opportunity, a child can supplement this part of socialization in other ways, for example, by spending time in the company of the parent’s friends and observing how the parent communicates respectfully with other adults, including those who take care of the child – teachers, nannies, kids club supervisors, etc.

Why is this so important? Children from a single-parent family, and especially children of overprotective moms or dads, are more likely to show lower school performance, neurotic disorders, and lack of independence.

Also, a negative attitude towards the second parent, low self-esteem, and inadequate exactingness towards the custodial parent may develop. A child seeks the support of a “significant adult,” and this role in their life can be filled even by the most popular peer, who seems more dominant and independent.

How can parents help students succeed? First, make sure there is a meaningful and positive unrelated adult who inspires the child. This may be the head of a child club, school counselor, coach, or someone with authority in what interests the child. It can even be the child’s favorite teacher if a child can communicate with them on any topic without judgment.

Having an authority figure outside the family does not in any way detract from your connection with your child. It gives them a feeling of additional support in the “external” world, in society.

3.  Failure is an Option, but Fear is Not

Most parents want their children to study well because they believe that knowledge is the key to success in the future. This belief is true, but many single parents suffer from hyper-responsibility and anxiety, and such an approach to education may discourage a child from learning.

Some parents exaggerate the importance of grades, making children afraid to make mistakes rather than giving them the chance to overcome failures. As a result, a child feels ashamed for not knowing something and does not want to try to learn.

Young children often refuse to try something they have never tried before or have not yet learned to do correctly. They are just afraid to take risks. After all, their self-esteem is overestimated due to their age, and children are fearful of failure.

However, school-age children and teens need to be able to admit that ignorance is normal. The child should be ready to make mistakes, feel stupid, and as a result, receive an assessment and feedback on their work. And the parents should encourage them along the way.

How can parents support their child’s education and inspire new achievements? There are several ways:

• Tell your child that there is no shame in not knowing something. And the most successful people never stop learning, without fear of looking stupid.
• Always consider any mistakes as an attempt: “Well, it was worth a shot! Even if something didn’t work out, now you know more than before. So nothing is in vain!”
• Show that you understand your child’s fears and hesitations. Give an example from your own life or career about how you conquered your fear of trying something new.
• Always support and admire the child’s success, active motivation, and desire to gain new skills and learn more.
• And, finally, remember: “Only those who do nothing never make mistakes.”

4.  Importance of Social Connectedness In Teenagers

When trying to help their child achieve academic success, many parents forget that forcing them to study is not the most efficient solution.

More often, the cause of the decline of academic performance is not the inability of the student to understand something but the lack of motivation or just rebellion. In this case, the parent’s demands, quarrels, and warnings are useless. Instead, to avoid academic pressure and understand your child’s problems, you need to see what is meaningful to them and what captivates and motivates them most.

Teenagers are focused on exploring the external world, and this world from which they are waiting for approval is outside the family, such as their peers with whom they want to be friends, the popular high schoolers, some teachers or coaches who inspire them, etc. Mom and dad are not the whole world. They are representatives of a safe and supportive family environment, and the teenager wants some guidance on how to adapt to this big world, survive in it, and ideally win.

Thus, your child probably would like to know how to become popular in school, or at least not an outcast, how to overcome shyness with girls or boys, how to show their talents, how to be no worse than others, or how to behave in a given situation so that it brings success.

All these things may seem silly for an adult person, but think back to your teenage years! After all, the best way to educate a child and become a more authoritative parent is to show respect to your teen son or daughter and maintain a friendship with them.

If you want to be friends with your child, help them adapt to their social environment. Of course, if this environment is destructive or dangerous, you can change your place of residence or school. However, if the social climate is ordinary (and most likely it is), learn more about it, ask your child, and be attentive to these conditions, laws, and customs.

The child should see that you understand and respect them and are ready to support them without challenging their values. Then, family involvement in the child’s education will be more productive. That is, it will be easier for your son or daughter to build up their confidence, fully develop their talents, and succeed at their favorite activity instead of wasting energy on resistance and rebellion.

5.  Good Marks Are Not The Ultimate Recipe For Success

No doubt, academic achievement is significant. It boosts self-confidence and provides more opportunities for choosing a future profession. But keep in mind that academic success is only part of your child’s development.

In his book, Keys to Single Parenting, psychologist Carl E. Pickhardt emphasizes that the role of other areas of growth in raising a happy child should not be underestimated. Social, emotional, moral, spiritual, physical, creative aspects of personality are no less important for your child’s success. They are human beings, and not just performers, which is often forgotten by people who tend to think “inside” the box and be intolerant of any imperfection.

However, the world is changing faster than social stereotypes, and it may be useful to recall the words of Harry S. Truman: “The ‘C’ students run the world.” After all, it takes a lot more than good grades to become famous.

According to research co-authored by Nobel laureate James Heckman, one of the most critical success factors is personality. At the same time, the IQ itself accounts for only 1% to 2% of the difference in income.

Although there is a relationship between school achievement and career success, grades do not always reflect soft skills, crucial for career and personal happiness. Thus, one last vital education tip for parents is to focus on developing traits such as leadership, willingness to take risks, networking and decision-making skills, time management, etc.

If a child is passionate about something they’re really good at and shows the above traits, you have nothing to worry about, even if their marks in some classes leave a lot to be desired. Let personal development through positive self-motivation and not a rat race towards high grades become your parenting paradigm. And most likely, under this approach, high marks will become just a pleasant side effect.

P.S.

To sum it all up, single parents are no less likely to raise happy and successful children than anybody else.

According to the statistics, almost a quarter of US children under 18 live with one parent. However, modern research results do not support the notion that increases in single parenthood have severe consequences for children’s school achievement.

After all, the only thing that matters is the power of your love and support. Whether you are divorced or married, you are your child’s closest person. You are enough. So don’t let negative stereotypes discourage you. Believe in your child, believe in yourself, and it will help you cope with all the challenges you face.

by: Natalie Maximets

Natalie Maximets is a certified life transformation coach at OnlineDivorce.com. She has expertise in mindfulness and sustainability. She is a published author focused on the most progressive solutions in the field of psychology. Natalie helps people go through fundamental life challenges, such as divorce, and build an entirely new life by reframing their personal narrative.