Have you ever wondered whether reading to your child in the womb actually produces a smarter child? If so, you're not alone. It is a pre-occupation with parents of young children, this desire to help them achieve, and produce, and grow.We fall prey to the competitive nature among parents, the desire to help our children shine socially and academically above all others. We push them into classes to help them achieve our ... I mean their ... dreams.
But is this Tiger Mom approach to education the one cognitive experts at UC Berkeley and MIT now believe will actually produce the best return on investment? For as we all know, it is truly an investment.
Two independent new studies have produced some fascinating results on just exactly how our children not only learn best but most successfully as they embark on their brave new educational world.
As a contributor to the UC-Berkeley study, Alison Gopnik, has written an excellent article summarizing these findings in, "Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School; New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire."
If you are at this parental stage, I recommend you read it.
I also have written a blog about my own experiences as a parent navigating the early educational waters.
I ended with this. "We must encourage and develop and allow their minds [our children] to wander and wonder and explore … and create. For to my mind, our very future depends on it."
