Discover What’s in Your Child’s Brain Without an X Ray Technician

Psychology for your kids and teens is a complicated thing to think about. We were once all the same age, but after years pass by we tend to forget what it’s like to be between the ages of 3-18. Sometimes trying to think about what goes on in a child’s mind is a task that frightens and confuses us to the point of eventually just giving up and not caring anymore.

In order to have the most influence over what your child will turn out like later in life, it is important to see what is influencing them and knock out anything that may be taking a negative hold of their psyches. Many parents turn to expensive psychiatrists who in turn prescribe expensive and untested drugs in order for us to keep better control on our children. Instead of relying on an X Ray Technician to proverbially scan your kid’s brain, you should take a couple of monitoring measures to really get into their heads.

Find out What They’re Watching

A recent study in the journal Pediatrics said that preschoolers who watched a nine minute clip of the popular Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants had less brain function than similar preschoolers who watched PBS and other students who refrained from television all together and just doodled. Researchers think this is because all of the random movement and basic nonsensical nature of the series.

Monitoring television doesn’t just stop at the television set. Streaming video services on smartphones, game systems, and computers are also influencing how your kids act and behave. If you find out your child is watching something inappropriate, have a conversation and try to make sure they have a clear understanding of what’s going on instead of just criticizing them. If you do not monitor what you’re children watch, you are losing out on valuable insights into your child’s brain.

Monitor Your Child’s Social Media Use

We have all been sufficiently frightened by the media into thinking that our children will get abducted if we let them anywhere near a computer or a social media website. Allowing your children to use social media can allow them to better communicate with friends, uncover school bullying threats, and even exceed in their studies by collaborating with teachers and other students.

A recent study by comScore and NDP indicates that most parents are concerned about who their kids are communicating with online, but only 32 percent of them actually check and 28 percent never even check. While most parents are concerned, they are also neglectful of how to monitor new social network technology. Simply becoming your child’s friend is not enough. There is software designed to send you alerts when your child does something of concern on social media.

See Who Influences Them

I remember being a teenager and falling into peer pressure way too easily. I always wanted my parents to purchase a pair of shoes because another kid had them, or buy a video game because everyone else was playing it. Your child’s friends and classmates are the single-handed greatest influence in life.

When you send kids off to school, they aren’t going to a protected and sterilized learning environment free of society’s influences. Marketers and advertisers rely on your kids as a key demographic in their sales goals. Instead of giving in and purchasing the item, suggest they get a job to learn the real value of money or sit them down and discuss how consumerism and advertising work.

With the saturation of media and other hard to control influences, keeping track of what goes into your child’s mind might seem like a full time job. By instilling values you feel appropriate you can have the ultimate influence in your child’s decision making.