Reply to When you have a bright toddler and a family history of both genius and mental illness.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Mental illness is largely gene-dependent, OP. If he develops an actual, diagnosable disorder, it won't be because you enrolled him in the "wrong" preschool.

However mental disorders also exist on a spectrum, and the threshold for a diagnosis is necessarily arbitrary. So it's true that fostering a healthy environment might lead to reduced symptoms if your child is predisposed to certain mental disorders.

By healthy environment, I mean nutrition, sleep and exercise. You need a health body and brain. A varied, colorful diet without too much processed and artificial foods is best. Sleep helps detoxify organs and store memories correctly in the brain. Exercise regulates metabolism and helps growth.

And then there is stress mitigation and a balanced approach to life - which is what you were trying to do with this preschool selection, I suppose. But at his age, it doesn't matter. What matters for stress is enough sleep, enough food and a stable home life where he has the same roof over his head most of the time and a family that doesn't yell or hit each other. I mean, the bar is lower than you think. Stress will come into play when he gets older and needs to balance good grades with extra-curriculars and volunteering.

You also need to consider that *resilience* is a better marker for success, whether it's academic, financial or mental wellbeing. Resilience is the capacity to bounce back from stressors. So you don't want to eliminate stress. You want to model and teach how to behave while anticipating, undergoing and recuperating from stress. This requires a lot of self-awareness from you, the parent.

- geneticist.

[/quote]

A family that doesn’t yell? Like the couple who never argues, right? Those never-argue seemingly happy couples who suddenly split when they can’t hold their feelings inside any longer. Who the hell has raised boys without yelling? [/quote]

You sound like my sister, who yells at her family. She can't believe I've never yelled at my young teen boys. The most I've ever done is says their names loudly with a tone which conveys I'm not playing. My dh and I have been married 23 years, together for 31 and we do not fight. We both agree that yelling, hitting, name calling, etc are abusive. We do not abuse each other or our children. Td/lr: abusive people like pp cannot imagine that a peaceful life is possible.[/quote]

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