0For most parents, the arrival of a child is a vow to work towards the well being of their bundle of joy. As the child grows, their expectations and aspirations from the child increase gradually. What remains constant, is their wish to mould their child into a good human being, imbibing the essential humanitarian qualities and moral virtues.
With both the parents working, they are unable to spend time with their children thus failing to contribute to their child’s growth. Children acquire their behaviour by observing elders and other individuals. Their habits, practises and style develop according to the people with whom they spend most of their time. To raise a child as a good human being, the parents need to know the psychology of the child.
While a parent demands the all-round development of a child, it could only be achieved by a healthy environment. To help build right circumstances for growth, introducing chess to your kids is a great way to evolve their transitional phase. While the parents are away, the child can engage in exercises that will train their mind to think uniquely. For the child its a game but it enhances their cognitive and social abilities. Playing Chess covers various contexts of psychology, like a child's mental, physical, emotional and social growth.
Mental Growth
Chess acts as a mentor of the mind. It lets the child think, learn and analyse better. In school, it would help the child to catch up and learn quicker than other fellow students. It is educational, yet fun. Researchers conducted, reveal that children who play chess have a higher intelligence quotient. A research was done on 4000 Venezuelans second-grade students, by training them systematically on how to play chess. It was observed that there is a significant increase in their I.Q. only after 4.5 months.
Physical Growth
Children have creative minds. They look at the world from a different perspective than adults. With regular practice in playing chess, children can bloom their creative minds and nurture originality. They can recognise their passion through singing, dancing, sports, dramatics etc. Even schools include recreational activities as compulsory subjects to bring out the creative side of the children. Thus a child good at chess will always excel in recreational activities, compared to his/her fellow students.
Emotional Growth
If we consider chess as a game or a sport, then it could work well in improving sportsmanship. It would teach them the philosophy of winning and losing which has to go hand in hand throughout one's life, and it should be embraced equally. Kids should take this as a part of growing up and not as a barrier to their success.
Social Growth
As we know, kids love to interact and socialise. But the current scenario suggests that kids these days, spend their entire day watching T.V or playing video games on their mobiles or tabs. Being technologically active is great but cutting themselves off the real world would be a disadvantage to them later in life. Chess lets them interact with other people irrespective of culture, community, gender or age. It even creates a bond and unifies people.
There are several other benefits that a chess player constitutes. It increases attention and alertness, helps to retain calmness, develop problem-solving skills, activates street smartness, builds confidence, improves mental maths and many others. So, in case your child needs to buck up in school, letting him learn chess is a good idea!
