Anonymous wrote:Breastfeed!

Probably one of the least important decisions you will make as a parent in terms of raising a smart, engaged, thoughtful person. Right behind, "have a waterbirth!" in terms of hor your kids end up as adults. But you knew that.

Anonymous wrote:Read books to your baby from birth. Talk and narrate. Sing. Yes, intelligence is genetic but there is so much you can do to maximize potential. I like baby classes, too - my kids learned so much from watching other kids.

This. I raised three brilliant children who are now successful, loving and happy adults. Also introduce a second language when the child is young.

Anonymous wrote:Breastfeed!

I don't think it has anything to do with it
Zilch
Formula fed, my sister also. I am smart, and all other savvy things. Sister is a genius

Classical education.

DH has a high IQ, measured. Nobody needs to measure mine - it’s average on a good day. We have four children, two of whom are young adults. Oldest is 22, youngest is 10. Two oldest are National Merit Scholars. I worked a combination of full-time and part-time, but mostly part-time, while raising older two. For younger two, I have been home more. Always read. Tons of books. Very limited screen time. Good diets, excercise, activity. Decent HHI, but lower than most of my kids’ peers.

People regularly ask how we have turned out such great kids. I simply thank them and demure because - short of beating them & locking them in a closet - I’m not sure how much our parenting has shaped them. Each came out a certain way at birth and it’s striking how so much was pre-programmed.

Our youngest, an ooops, is doing things at age 10 that his oldest brother did - behaviors, expressions, quirky things - but he was not even alive when his older brother (now away at college) was 10. I am absolutely in awe of genetics.

Read to your kids, really limit media consumption, get your kids outside and feed them decently. Love them. Beyond that, I don’t think much is in our control.

Encourage mistakes. The only way to learn is to make mistakes. Encourage effort with mistakes vs always getting or doing it the "right way"

Exercise and being active in general, but not hectic seems to have helped.

Anonymous wrote:HI kk OP
As a ftm, this is really giving me great insight.

Thank you

Hi and I am OP lol

HI kk OP
As a ftm, this is really giving me great insight.

Thank you

Anonymous wrote:The trick is genes.

Yes.
You can expose a kid all you want to the important things in life, they're not necessarily going to respond if their brain make-up isn't equipped for it.
Having said that, it's true that early intervention for special needs, and tutoring, therapy and socialization to remedy various weak points, will help.

I have two high-IQ individuals in my house, DH and DS. They are NOT well-rounded, despite efforts on my ILs and my part, respectively. They are Aspie-type brains, made to parse data and solve problems, but on their own time, not anyone else's.
DD and myself, on the other hand, are hopefully what OP describes. Ironically, our IQs are lower, but the key is that we have more executive functioning skills.

My kids are very intelligent. Both DH and I were as kids too. My parents both have a Doctorate and my Mom held a Ph.D. We started reading the moment we conceived. We always go to interesting places, nature centerd and museums to give them background knowledge. I did extended breastfeeding but that is not a factor. The main thing I do is not hover, allow them to develop on their own, encourage their interests, and give them a growth mindset and help them not limit their learning. My 6th grader is taking 7th grade content courses. My preschooler is spelling words but that is because we play with spelling puzzles and sidewalk chalk to learn letters and sound. We do TV but I ban Youtube.

Anonymous wrote:Breastfeed!

We formula fed. Maybe that is why my straight A student with 5's on the PARCC is so dumb.

I have one kid like that. It's genes. DH and I have a combination of book smarts, common sense, and great character/personality. We don't do much to parent this one.

Now I have one kid who is extremely stubborn. This kid is very smart as well, but very stubborn. Again it's genes-a different combination of genes between DH and I. We try really hard to parent this one, and we seem to be making some progress. At home, this kid is as stubborn and difficult as I was growing up(I was a huge PIA). But the kid is extremely well behaved and adored for maturity at school(I was stubborn and difficult everywhere).

Anonymous wrote:Listen to npr and classical music. Explain things all the time. Use big words and explain. Enjoy good books together. Push them but be generous with praise when they do well. Expose them to all kinds of activities. Take them to the museums and talk about the exhibits. Involve them in household decisions. Express how proud of them you are. Teach them to treat others with kindness. Show them the ways in which they’re privileged.

2 highly educated parents. Never used baby talk. Read to kids a lot. House full of DK and other science books. 1st grade - surveying writing on the wall. There's the large collection of nice 20-30 word paragraphs about some animal with half inch block letters, and then there was our child with a two page essay, quarter inch letters, comparing and contrasting habitats of snakes with 8-9 letter words spelled correctly. Uh, alrighty then.

I'm a middle school teacher. 6th grader: "Mrs. Science teacher, why do you use such big words all of the time." Me: "How else are you going to learn new words?"

I think it more about recognizing the smarts in every child. I have one that is a very good student and one that has always struggled. They both have so much to give and will be successful adults. No one cares what reading level he was on in second grade or what year he took algebra.