OH, I Forgot! 10 Tips to Improve Your Child’s Memory

You have asked your child to complete a chore like cleaning up their room. They may be watching TV or on the computer or about to go outside to play. They respond, “okay, I will.” You go about your chores, a happy parent, thinking, “what a great kid!” You hear your child finish what they were doing. After awhile you go into their room and what do you see? Everything in a mess still! Your first thought is to yell, but wait, could your child be in-need-of some memory boosting? Here are 10 TIPS for parents on how to strengthen your child’s memory:

Make sure your child’s hearing is fine.
Have your child repeat back to you what you have just asked them to do.
Ask your child to be a messenger. Give them a verbal message to deliver to their father, brother, or sister. Verify the message you gave them with whomever they were to deliver it. Increase the length of the messages as they demonstrate success.
Play a concentration/memory game with your child. Layout a line of several common objects found in your kitchen. Ask your child to look at them and the order they are in line. Ask your child to hide their eyes. You remove one item. Ask your child to look again at the line of objects and tell you which one is missing. Put the missing object back in the line. Next, ask them to look again at the objects. They hide their eyes. You remove two objects. When your child looks again, they then tell you which two are missing… Increase the number of objects you use. Max the number of objects out at 10. There is a reason for this number. If you would like to know what it is, email me at kristin@www.buckaroobuckeye.com, subject line ‘why 10 objects.’ Additionally, there are many commercial memory/concentration games you can use for building your child’s memory skills.
At the end of their day, ask your child to tell you the activities that occurred in sequence from beginning to now.
Record a message. Have your child write the message after they have heard it. Increase the length of the message as they demonstrate success.
Play an echo game. Have your child repeat a word after you say it. Next, say several words for them to repeat. Increase the words to form a sentence for them to repeat back to you. Increase the challenge as your child demonstrates success.
Use sentence dictation to develop short-term memory. Give them a sentence for them to write on a piece of paper or word processing program on the computer or iPad. Begin with sentences of less than five words and increase the sentence length as your child demonstrates success.
Make certain when giving instructions to your child, they maintain eye contact and their hands are free of materials.
Maintain consistency with memory activities in order to increase the likelihood of success.