2000 words per hour?

This article states that some "professional" parents speak 2000 or so words per hour to their child on average, and the number of words spoken to a child has an effect on achievement. To me, 2000 words per hour seems like it would be nearly constant chatter, but maybe it is true that many parents speak this much to their children. I have no idea how many words per hour I speak to my son, but I am not constantly talking to him. Maybe I will talk more when he makes more of an initiative to talk to me!

Late Night Laughs

Here's a hilarious take from the Perfect Baby Blog on the Mensa Miniatures.

Should the World Know?

Some thing strikes me as incredibly wrong with this picture. I'm not sure that any two year old, no matter how amazingly bright, should have his IQ score tested to begin with, much less have the results published. If I knew my child's IQ through testing, I'm not even sure I would share the results with him. Seems like unnecessary pressure to live up to a number. I'm trying hard to not sound like one of those salty people who go off anytime some one gets the label "gifted." That's not what I'm doing here. I am questioning whether the IQ and status of an individual should be public information if it is not their choice to reveal that information.


See more stories of baby and preschool "geniuses" here. It seems ritual at this point to go to the press with a story of youngest baby with the highest IQ and admission to Mensa.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6198015.ece
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-463539/Two-year-old-Matilda-youngest-girl-Mensa.html

It's getting HOT in here

I mentioned in my previous post, a little bit about the movie Parenthood. This movie really has been my only exposure to flashcarding, AKA "hot-housing" of young children before I had my baby. Rick Moranis' character Nathan had become obsessed with making a genius of his 3-year-old daughter Patty, and his obsession caused him to neglect his marriage and had just begun to damage Patty socially and emotionally as well. In particular, I remember the scene where he is flashing the symbols from the periodic table. This highlighted his obsession, because no matter how you look at it, it most certainly is not very useful information for a 3 year old to know the exact symbol that represents the elements and she had it down cold. It seemed like the most un-fun activity, a waste of time, and all for show and bragging rights.

I don't know any hot-house parents personally, but I have heard about them, and I'm sure I've been in contact with some on-line. Maybe I am making a distinction between myself and others when there is no real difference, but my purpose in educating my baby is NOT to create a genius. My purpose is to enhance his life, instill purpose and confidence, and begin to cultivate an intelligent young man. I do not care what his IQ test scores will be if he ever has a test done, whether he gets identified as gifted in school, and most of all I do not care whether others believe he is smart or a genius. I have to admit, I do care if my educating him early ultimately has an effect on his standardized test scores because frankly, in this country, this represents access to scarce education resources. And I do also care if his early education makes him a more intelligent adult who has a wider array of choices when it comes time to choose a career.

Sidebar: I am going to be looking up the origin of "hot-house." That is a really interesting term and I wonder where it comes from!

Baby Mozart

Does classical music make babies smarter? A lot of people seem to think so. We visited a few day cares that played classical music for the babies during the day, and made the claim that classical music made babies smarter. What do I believe? There is evidence out there, but there is something about it that does not sit well with me. Ok, I admit it. I am confused.

If you could combine introductions to language and music at the same time, meaning songs with lyrics, how could music with no language, instrumentals only, be better?

Being the good, informed, proactive pregnant woman who wanted nothing but the best for her baby, I had requested several Baby Einstein Classical music CDs for the baby to listen to. I got several from loving relatives. I thought the CDs would be special cuts of songs that were found to be the most stimulating for the baby. However, the CDs were computerized tones of the songs that nearly drove me out of the house. Maybe it was an overreaction to feeling disappointed in the BE CDs, but now I do not set aside time to play special music for TJ. I sing around the house for him. Otherwise we play adult popular music. The song I sing most this week seems to be Old MacDonald. Last week it was the ABC song. Maybe we should replace our music with the classical music for TJ to hear more often. I think I would do it because I would want him to appreciate classical music, not because I believe classical music makes him "smarter."