How smart are your children compared to you and your wife/husband

[Anonymous]

Do you think your choice is spouse affected how intelligent or smart your children are?

[Anonymous]

DH and I are both above average. I didn’t go out to marry somebody of above average intelligence but I just click more with people who are.

DS is also solidly above average. DD is way above average and it intimidates me when I think about it.

By the way, new research suggests that intelligence is far less determined by genetics than people thought.

[Anonymous]

My kids know their way with all things electronic way better than me. It just stems from necessity and immersion - nothing that dh and I did (or didn't) do.

And it's one of those hallmarks of when you start to feel old.

[Anonymous]

There are geniuses born everyday to idiots and methheads with MD/PHD parents.

You can’t breed for intelligence (yet), but you can choose to give the child opportunities that others don’t have access to, or just participate in plain old nepotism.

[Anonymous]

There are different kinds of smarts: book smart, socially smart, common sense smart.

Most people have only two of the three.

[Anonymous]

I read that boys get their intelligence from mothers. My boy way smarter than DH and I put together.

[Anonymous]

My son and I are of above-average IQ in the 130s.
My husband's IQ was measured in the 150s.
My daughter takes after him, but we don't know her IQ.

In terms of socio-emotional maturity, however, I suspect we're a bit below average

[Anonymous]

It's hard to say.

I had a love of learning that my daughter doesn't share. I also picked up on things faster and was a straight A student. With that said, my poorly funded public schools were terrible. She learned things in elementary that I didn't find out until high school. Her vocabulary, writing skills, and swath of knowledge eclipses what I had when I was her age.

If you could put her in a time machine and put us in class together, she'd be the smarter kid. My ex, while far from being an idiot, was more of a C/D student in school.

[Anonymous]

How do you know? My kids are 7, 5 and 2. I have no idea how smart I was at that age. I am sure I was smart and I know I was a very good student.
I now have a PhD and I am known as the “smarter” person around. I am definitely smarter than my kids today.

My kids are smart. Maybe smarter than the average DC private school kid. They tested 134 and 140 in the WPPSI, but who knows whether those tests are good predictors of anything.

Unless your kids are adults, this question makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are geniuses born everyday to idiots and methheads with MD/PHD parents.

You can’t breed for intelligence (yet), but you can choose to give the child opportunities that others don’t have access to, or just participate in plain old nepotism.

I thought that if you choose sperm donation, you could choose iq?

[Anonymous]

Kid is too young to tell, though I of course think she’s a genius.

However, my DH is super smart but his parents are/were not. He was top of his class in high school, Ivy League on full scholarship. But his mom is kind of simple. His dad had a great capacity for acquiring facts, but lacked some basic common sense. His sister is the same. They are all wonderful people who have lived great lives.

Intelligence is a blessing and a curse, and I don’t think it makes you happier. I’m really bright like my DH (just very academically successful) but I wouldn’t be sad if our kid wasn’t smart in that way. You can teach common sense, and kindness and usefulness are probably better qualities in the long run. I know many cruel smart people, many lazy and selfish smart people. It’s less important than you think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are geniuses born everyday to idiots and methheads with MD/PHD parents.

You can’t breed for intelligence (yet), but you can choose to give the child opportunities that others don’t have access to, or just participate in plain old nepotism.

Are you saying intelligence isn't heritable? I don't believe that is true.

[Anonymous]

I will likely be smarter than both my kids. I tested with a fairly high IQ when I was child (> 150), but would probably be rounded down to about 140 by today's test standards.

My kids will both be above average, but neither one of them has shown signs of extremely high intelligence.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are smart (were in gifted programs throughout primary-secondary school, did well in SLACs for college, both have advanced degrees and successful careers) but our kids are even smarter (I’m pretty sure they are—of course I’m convinced they’re geniuses—but how can you really tell? They are 6 and 4 and due to the pandemic neither have yet been in “real school” or ever had any testing done.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will likely be smarter than both my kids. I tested with a fairly high IQ when I was child (> 150), but would probably be rounded down to about 140 by today's test standards.

My kids will both be above average, but neither one of them has shown signs of extremely high intelligence.

+1. Same. DH is bright and hard working, but not super intelligent. That’s fine because he’s kind with high emotional intelligence and so is my kid.