Beirut -

Many parents believe that playing with their young children is useless or a waste of their time, but they do not know that playing a great role in the development and refinement of the child's personality, and that it gives the child courage and the ability to deal with other children.

Many parents do not give this matter enough attention, due to the nature of their preoccupation with the requirements of material life, and it is noticeable that most parents believe that playing with their children can be provided for them by buying games or registering them in sports clubs.

This is what Elena M.

(35 years), she pays much attention to this matter to the extent that she agreed with her husband to develop her eldest son Eli’s mental abilities and develop his intelligence by playing chess from the age of 5 with his father, who encouraged him a lot to continue playing with him, expressing admiration for his abilities and the extent of focus that enjoy it.

Elena and her husband agreed to develop their son's abilities through his professionalism in chess from the age of 5, so that he is now a professional student and a future champion in the world of chess (Express-Pixaby)

Eye-catching talent

She continued her speech to Al-Jazeera Net that her husband, when he found Eli's talent attractive, registered him in the most important clubs to develop and refine his playing skills, to become now a professional student and a future champion in the world of chess.

Elena stresses the great benefits of playing parents with their children, including the strength of communication that occurs between them, especially with the parents' interest in the quality of play that suits each age stage.

She also advises parents to play with children to discover their personalities and tendencies, compare between them and explore the extent of focus they enjoy, stressing at the same time that giving enough time to play with children is one of the things that parents must pay attention to, as it is an important and basic priority in their daily program. .

It is important for parents to engage their children in games and give them enough time to play useful games (pixels).

Playing with her children is not easy

Meanwhile, Ruba Al-Miqdad, in her thirties, is having difficulty playing with her three children.

There is no common game between them, each of them wants a game, so you often arrange entertainment trips or family visits to keep them busy playing away from it.

She points out that when she had only one child, it was easier to play with him, and she did not have many responsibilities, as playing with children requires the individual to be calm, and to have the ability to subjugate and control children to be calm, "but now playing with her children has become a matter It's not easy."

Playing chess increases IQ as the player uses both sides of the brain (Shutterstock)

Chess is a compulsory subject in schools

The educational counselor Carolina Kfoury believes that "chess is one of the most important intelligence games; it helps support children's abilities to focus carefully. Knowing the rules for moving each piece, and raising the IQ as the player uses both sides of the brain.”


Chess also teaches the child patience, not being impulsive, and using logic before making a decision, in addition to that it improves reading skills and develops analytical ability, and allows the player to focus as he predicts the next move his opponent will make.

The child learns these skills and the game stimulates his mind while he is listening, and this is different from the educational activities that a child may be bored with, according to Kfoury's educationalist.

Kfoury hopes that chess would be made a compulsory subject in schools, as well as in Russia and Armenia, which have been taught since 2011 from the age of 7 to 9, given its paramount importance in developing a sense of responsibility, order, self-confidence, creative thinking, decision-making and strategic planning.

The puzzle also develops the child's motor and visual skills (pixels).

The educational counselor, Kfoury, encourages the development of children's intelligence and mental skills by installing a puzzle game;

It has a lot of interest and entertainment.

The brain's production of dopamine, the substance responsible for learning and memory, increases while solving puzzles.

Thus, these puzzles are useful brain training and help delay memory loss, Alzheimer's disease, dementia and other problems, and also develop the child's motor and visual skills.

Kfoury points out the importance of parents participating with their children in all these games, encouraging them continuously and giving them enough time to play these useful educational games, which have positive repercussions in developing intellectual, sensory, visual and cognitive skills.

Educational guide Carolina Kfoury: Chess is one of the most important intelligence games and supports children's ability to focus carefully (Al-Jazeera)

chess magic recipe

The Lebanese chess player, Fadi Helal, stresses the importance of this game as a mental sport.

Because of its effective role in awakening the intellectual and intellectual abilities of children and helping them to develop their logical thinking.

Hilal stressed that electronic games and social media, despite their importance in modern life, were the cause of stressing children's minds, until some of them reached the point of inability to comprehend, dull mental activity, apathy and inability to focus, and this is what makes mental chess more like a magic recipe that It would make geniuses if the huge benefits it brings to young and old are taken into consideration.


In his view, chess is a game that contributes to transforming this playful nature into an attractive activity, and it is more than just a game;

It is a friendly challenge or competition with the other player, and a peaceful struggle between strategies and ideas.

Helal believes that chess also develops cognitive ability and facilitates the learning of subjects such as languages ​​and mathematics, and this in turn not only has a positive impact on academic performance, but also contributes to improving interpersonal relationships between students and promoting respect and coexistence.

 Top 3 mind games

It is the parents’ responsibility to provide some games for their children at the age of 5 to 10 years away from electronic games, with the aim of stimulating the brain, as they give amazing results, the most important of which are: chess, jinga, and dominoes.

Here is a summary of it:

The game of chess is challenging and friendly competition with the other player and a peaceful struggle between strategies and ideas (pixels)

chess

The game of chess comes at the top of the list of games that have a significant impact on the mind, self and life skills of the human being, and it helps to develop the child's intelligence and build his skills, because it develops the ability to anticipate new problems and find logical solutions to them, and this combines with the speed of movement and implementation, which creates the child's intelligence Mentally great, it also strengthens memory because it stimulates the memory centers in the brain;

The game mainly depends on remembering how to move each piece, how the movements differ from one piece to another, and the number of steps allowed each time.

The Jinja game teaches children strategic thinking that depends on planning and predicting problems and developing solutions to them (communication sites)

jenga

In the early eighties of the last century, the game Jenga caused a sensation with its appearance, as you are standing in front of a tower consisting of 54 wooden pieces, and you have to remove only one piece from the center of the tower without destroying it, and the player who causes the tower to be demolished with his piece loses.

It is a game that teaches children strategic thinking, which depends on planning and predicting expected problems and developing future solutions to them.

Since the player analyzes his movements and chooses the movement that keeps the tower standing;

It trains the mind to think logically and anticipate the consequences of behavior before it is done.

It also teaches the child to plan, find alternatives, and develops manual dexterity, and it is the most accurate game of manual and mental skills. It must have firm nerves and a precise hand to pull the piece of wood from the center of the tower without the pieces falling on top of it and built on it.

Jinja builds in the child's personality and mind the ability to solve problems, anticipate them, come up with acceptable and effective solutions to them, and develop his analytical thinking and accuracy in implementation.

All this works to enhance the performance of executive functions in the brain, which is reflected in the mental health of the child directly, in addition to training the child in patience and deliberation, which are life skills he needs to succeed in his life and his social relations.

Playing dominoes trains the brain on different and healthy ways of thinking and analysis to reach the best movement and continue playing (communication sites)

domino

Dominoes is one of the games that has taken on a special character that makes it confined in the minds of many to men only. However, it is an entertaining game for women and teenagers, and even for youngsters as well.

Once the child learns its rules and begins applying them, they become mental exercises on analytical thinking skills and memory as well.

It puts the child in a realistic framework of repercussions that require solving problems, which trains the brain on different and healthy ways of thinking and analysis to reach the best movement and continue playing.

It is also always dependent on choices;

The player has two numbers at the ends and he has to choose which one is the best to match and play with.

This complex process enhances decision-making skills, and teaches its owner the skills of decisiveness and emphasis, so he decides and implements immediately.

In addition, these successive decision-making processes generate high self-confidence in the owner, which is reflected on the child's mental health as well, not just the mental one.