How to raise intelligent children

[wowsers6]

I've got a DS1 and I'm really keen to give him the best chance of using as much of his potential as possible to become intelligent and get ahead educationally.

It makes a big difference to things like how much they enjoy school to be smarter younger so I'm wondering what tips people have to raise smart kids?

He's shown an early interest in reading letters and numbers and counting so I want to do as much as I can to nurture it.

Any tips?

Top tip if you want intelligent children is to only breed with intelligent men.

Mine are both very bright.

I had a no screens or TV at all rule until the eldest was 5. The youngest was probably about 3.5 when he started being allowed to watch it. It was never on in the background either.

Lots of reading with them (and teaching them to read too), taking them out to playgroups, museums, the park, jigsaws, drawing, painting etc.

Talking with them.

I was a SAHM so I spent every minute with them. No idea whether they'd have been bright anyway or not, but in the early years that's what I did with them.

Also, when I felt the school wasn't up to scratch, I moved the kids to one that was, so things like that too.

I'd say just do lots of stuff and have lots of downtime and fun too - teach him names of things like when shopping, point to animals and birds etc and just enjoy time together - with regards to whAt teachers teach, just let teachers do their thing and you do your bit

Mine are all really bright and dgs seems to be just the same. I would say read to them, talk to them, show them things and take them places don't concentrate on letters and numbers because school will teach them those. Dgs 4 came here in half term, last night dd text me to ask who had taught him what the Italian flag looked like. We were playing with his Disney Cars, Francesco is Italian so I showed him the Italian flag and later dgs coloured some flags we made from paper and drinking straws. Dd will also discover that dgs can also identify the Union Jack, the Japanese flag and the American stars and stripes when dgs chooses to show her. He is like a sponge, he picks things up all the time both here and at home and wherever he goes.

Where have you got the info that being smarter younger means you enjoy school more?
I am not saying it's not true, just wondering what it's based on.
I am also wondering why you think environment increases intelligence. If you and DH are both intelligent, likely DS is too.

This. And looking around the people I know, I would say that both success and happiness are correlated far more with social skills and emotional resilience than intelligence.

You can do a million things to add colour and interest to the learning environment of your children but genetics and a stable home play a bigger hand in building an intelligent child.

Marry an intelligent man and be intelligent yourself.

Do more of the stuff they enjoy to stretch them.

All this focus on being smart, make sure your child knows you love them the same regardless of how they turn out. You probably wouldn't want to give them the impression that you love them more if they are clever!

I'm sure you're right, but you can do something about nurture. Once sperm meets egg, the genetics are fixed.

I'm absolutely certain hothousing is counter-productive. Children need down time between structured activities like school and clubs so their brains have time to process what they're learning. It's also important for them to learn to amuse themselves and develop a degree of independence. Talking is important. Actual, physical books with good illustrations. Simple classic toys like wooden bricks. Paper and pencils/pens. Make sure they can get themselves dressed and undressed with minimal help before they go to school, including getting their shoes on and off. Also try to get them to take turns and learn to be quiet when the teacher is speaking. Your child's teacher will bless you for all of that.

Reading with them is a good place to start. If using the TV number jacks/blocks and Blaze are educational.
They either have it or they don't to be honest.

Remember my lovely friend eye rolling at our kids respective reading levels the two of us very similar academically but as she said “it’s my own fault I had babies with an estate agent”. What can you do?!

Ban screens completely, find a sport they are passionate about, play an instrument and have high standards/expectations around how they behave and their work ethic.

This. And read, read, read to him. Studies show we should ideally read to our children until age 16. Sounds mad, but there's proof. I managed to age 14 with older 2- we would read newspaper articles 3 times a week & chat. I now have 19 & 17 Yr olds who are very connected to the world around them/ interested in politics/culture. They're both Maths heads, but I'm so glad all the reading has made them rounded people with opinions.

The most reliable indicator of a child's intelligence is the intelligence of the mother.

So a) be clever yourself
b) marry a good looking man

Result: clever, attractive children

Oh, and agree with lots of outdoor time - running around a forest is immense/ camping now & again- a sport they love (rugby & mountain biking for mine- gets them outdoors too) and loads of Lego/ board games.

I think you can raise intelligent children.

All the most off-the-chart intelligent people I know are the children of teachers - specifically, primary school teachers. The parents of these highly intelligent people don't appear to be unusually bright themselves, but they are doing something with their children to develop their brains to be really special. So, if you want highly intelligent DC, my advice is to train as a primary school teacher first.

Don’t understand the ditch the telly stuff. Ok it might not be great when they’re really little, but I have learnt so much from TV over the years! Some of it is great.

Teach your child resilience. If they want to try something, let them try, let them fail, let them try again until they succeed. Don't praise achievement, praise effort. So much success is life is not down to intelligence, it's down to resilience

🤣🤣🤣

Is this actually true? My boys follow their dad with ability in Maths & Science, both can't stand English (I'm an English teacher🙈). Eldest is far, far smarter than either of us- like properly genius level- we've often wondered where on Earth he came from 😅.

And ex DH is handsome- thankfully 🤣. One looks very like him, one very like me.

I’ve read articles that say kids get their intelligence from their mothers 😂

I agree with others that you can’t ‘make’ children intelligent but you can create a home life that encourages curiosity, creativity and knowledge.

my children are clever to varying degrees. We never got houses them or forced them to do loads of school work etc. however both me and DH are also not completely stupid so ther is probably an element of genetics at play.

We go however have a house of books, lots of board games, and eat dinner together with no electronics and talk- about all sorts, if we don’t know the answers to random questions we find out together. Holidays aren’t spent at all inclusives consisting of beach/pool/bar, we go to places with ruins and museums and things to do.

I’ve also read that kids who go camping and spend time in nature do better at school. We all do scouts and camps etc.

now all of the above could have made a difference or maybe the kids would be the same even if we never did anything with them.

my advice is to be led by your child - enable them when things genuinely interest them, provide them with opportunities without forcing it down their throats. Let them enjoy life praise effort more than attainment. My eldest gets As and As with little effort. DD who is in year 11 got her physics grade from a C to an A last term with some revision and extra effort. That to my is worth more praise than getting an A without really trying.

dont forget that social skills, practical skills and common sense along with kindness and compassion are also very valuable skills which may actually have more influence on how successful someone is later in life.

Read to them.
Let them work out things themselves.
Don't control how they play, or how they craft. (Within reason, of course. Obviously don't let them be destructive.)
Encourage investigation.
Talk to them, answer their questions, find things out together when you don't know the answer.
Love them.

This is interesting! Maybe that's where DS1 gets it from? All my time & effort with them. I'm pretty average brains wise, both my boys are smarter than me.

Be interested in what they are interested in and don’t try and mould them into your idea of what an intelligent person should be like.

My DH and I were discussing the other day that our biggest regrets (in school) was being pushed into taking “proper” subjects that we were not interested in by our well meaning parents. I sometimes wonder how different our lives would have been if we’d been encouraged to follow our passions.