If you are wicked smart, what about your kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both in the scary smart range. DC1 is scary smart, and DC2 is smart, but not in an over the top way. Guess which child is better socialized, has more friends, has had fewer behavior issues, does not have ADHD, and is generally happier and better adjusted? *sigh* smart's nice, but we've certainly discovered that it's a small part of the happy and successful life equation.

well you are definitely scary, not so sure about the smart part ...

[Anonymous]

I'm wicked hahd coah. My husband is wicked smaht -- we're tawkin' pissa test scoahs. The runs around us like a beater around the rotary.

We was talking about this around the bubbla at work on Friday. Then Carla says look, don't botha worrying about it. Just go to the package stoah, get yisself a tonic, and watch the Sawx.

[Anonymous]

I'm guess I'm smart. My mom recently gave me all my school papers from childhood and I found 2 sets of IQ test papers. I scored between 130 and 135 each time.
My husband is much smarter---chemical engineer who then graduated number 1 from a top 3 US medical school. His mind is like a steel trap.

Our 3 kids (late elementary) are smart enough. No geniuses in the mix but they're social, well-adjusted, inquisitive kids.

[Anonymous]

I'm disappointed in my kids but it's more their lack of lovely learn and bad attitude about school versus how actually smart they are .

[Anonymous]

I am extremely intelligent, whereas my child is average at best. I am hoping he will make up for it by being less of an asshole than I am.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are smart. Children seem smart but the jury is still out. What I really want for them is happiness! Being very smart is correlated with many many negatives. I want nothing more for them to be happy with themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder how many of the "wicked smart" parents with kids "not as smart" are actually "wicked smart". This area has a lot of transplants and people who were extremely smart for their hometown, top of their class, always ahead of everyone else in Booberville, Indiana and grew up internalizing being the smartest kid in the class. Their children are all growing up in an area where everyone is smart and highly educated. A kid who seems OK but not incredibly smart here would stand out back in your original hometown but seem average here. In addition, IQ scores and testing have changed. A high score 20-30-40 years ago would be equivalent to a lower score today.

Its more probable that the children are in the same "smart" range as the parents but the perceptions have simply changed because who you compare against is different.

I'm from Indiana and while I suppose I was smart growing up, I certainly didn't grow up internalizing being smartest in the class because no one around me would have cared. I've lived all over the world in plenty of cities with high concentrations of uber smart, highly educated people and what has struck me the most is how so many people with so much supposed intelligence can be so clueless about what matters in life.

And given how test scores have been inflated, I'd be surprised if a high score years ago would be equivalent to a lower score today. Filling more steps with more stuff and testing, testing, testing from ever younger ages does not make us smarter than previous generations. I'd argue the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Ach! Autocorrect. That was meant to read, "filling heads with more stuff .....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what cracks me up about this thread is that everybody knows their IQs as well as their husband's IQs and kid's IQs. Everyone in my family is at least a college graduate, some ivy leaguers, many doctors/lawyers/other DCUM-ish type jobs and I don't think anyone has ever had an IQ test. Where are you all getting IQ tests and why? This is very strange to me.

+1. This is weird. And very DC . . . If you didn't go to an Ivy League school, you are a moron . . . If your child doesn't have a 160 IQ, forget about him/her getting into Big 3 and Harvard! The horror!

Personally, I don't particularly want to know my or my family's IQs. I think it could affect my expectations in a negative way. Work ethic and interpersonal skills are much more important IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am extremely intelligent, whereas my child is average at best. I am hoping he will make up for it by being less of an asshole than I am.

Hilarious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what cracks me up about this thread is that everybody knows their IQs as well as their husband's IQs and kid's IQs. Everyone in my family is at least a college graduate, some ivy leaguers, many doctors/lawyers/other DCUM-ish type jobs and I don't think anyone has ever had an IQ test. Where are you all getting IQ tests and why? This is very strange to me.

+1. This is weird. And very DC . . . If you didn't go to an Ivy League school, you are a moron . . . If your child doesn't have a 160 IQ, forget about him/her getting into Big 3 and Harvard! The horror!

Personally, I don't particularly want to know my or my family's IQs. I think it could affect my expectations in a negative way. Work ethic and interpersonal skills are much more important IMO.

My husband and I know our IQs because we were both tested for gifted and talented classes in grade school. That's the only reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what cracks me up about this thread is that everybody knows their IQs as well as their husband's IQs and kid's IQs. Everyone in my family is at least a college graduate, some ivy leaguers, many doctors/lawyers/other DCUM-ish type jobs and I don't think anyone has ever had an IQ test. Where are you all getting IQ tests and why? This is very strange to me.

+1. This is weird. And very DC . . . If you didn't go to an Ivy League school, you are a moron . . . If your child doesn't have a 160 IQ, forget about him/her getting into Big 3 and Harvard! The horror!

Personally, I don't particularly want to know my or my family's IQs. I think it could affect my expectations in a negative way. Work ethic and interpersonal skills are much more important IMO.

My husband and I know our IQs because we were both tested for gifted and talented classes in grade school. That's the only reason.

But those test scores from the 70s/80s are neither accurate nor stable. Anyone who knows anything about intelligence knows that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think what cracks me up about this thread is that everybody knows their IQs as well as their husband's IQs and kid's IQs. Everyone in my family is at least a college graduate, some ivy leaguers, many doctors/lawyers/other DCUM-ish type jobs and I don't think anyone has ever had an IQ test. Where are you all getting IQ tests and why? This is very strange to me.

+1. This is weird. And very DC . . . If you didn't go to an Ivy League school, you are a moron . . . If your child doesn't have a 160 IQ, forget about him/her getting into Big 3 and Harvard! The horror!

Personally, I don't particularly want to know my or my family's IQs. I think it could affect my expectations in a negative way. Work ethic and interpersonal skills are much more important IMO.

My husband and I know our IQs because we were both tested for gifted and talented classes in grade school. That's the only reason.

But those test scores from the 70s/80s are neither accurate nor stable. Anyone who knows anything about intelligence knows that.

Actually intelligence is relatively stable throughout the lifespan

http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/23/4/239.abstract?rss=1

And in the 80's the the same cognitive test (the WISC) was commonly used to assess intelligence, however just an earlier version of it.

[Anonymous]

My IQ, last time I was tested, was 156. Both of my sons' have tested higher (and in one case, appreciable higher). However, my son with the higher IQ is also profoundly dyslexic - and let me tell you, super high IQ and inability to read is incredibly frustrating to him, has led to suicide talk more than anyone should ever have (and this was as a 7-8 year old, things are better now that he has some reading ability). My other son, also a higher IQ than mine but not as profoundly high, has severe ADHD and was one diagnostic criterion short of Oppositional Defiance Disorder (basically genetic predisposition to acting like an asshole sometimes). He really struggles with social skills (case in point, in kindergarten they had to list their personality traits and how the demonstrated them - he said "I am kind and helpful because I tell all of my classmates every time they get something wrong." Uh, no. Anyway, I would trade high IQ for normal reading skills for one child, and better EQ for the other, in a heartbeat.