This Is How To Make Your Baby Smarter: 4 Secrets From Research

By Eric Barker (from the “Barking Up The Wrong Tree” blog)

Being a new parent isn’t easy. Babies are essentially tiny, drunk roommates. They stumble around, they’re loud at all the wrong hours, they throw up on you without a hint of remorse, and they don’t pay rent. You’ll find yourself considering the merits of just squirting puree directly onto the floor just to cut out the middleman.

And this is all made more difficult by the fact that they can barely communicate. Babies come equipped with a range of sounds that are designed to trigger every parental instinct you didn’t know you had. There’s the “I’m mildly annoyed” grunt, the “I’m somewhat hungry” whimper, and the full-blown “I’ve been abandoned in the wilderness” scream. Who knew that something so small, something that can’t even figure out how to burp without assistance, could wield such power?

But just when you think you’ve reached the limits of your endurance, one gummy smile from your little bundle of joy can somehow make all the madness seem worth it. It’s love…

Okay, sometimes it’s more like Stockholm syndrome, but still – love.

So you want to be a good parent and raise a smart kid. The problem isn’t that there’s no advice; the problem is there’s too much of it. It’s everywhere. From the lady at the park, whose qualifications seem to be “having once seen a baby,” to your great-aunt’s neighbor’s housekeeper, everyone has an opinion on how you should be raising your child. It’s as if the moment you announce you’re expecting, you unwittingly sign up for a subscription to “Everyone’s an Expert,” a magazine that only publishes conflicting advice.

According to them, if your child isn’t bilingual by age two, playing the violin at three, and coding by four, you might as well resign yourself to a future of parent-teacher conferences where you’re gently told that maybe college “isn’t for everyone.”

At this point you just laugh because, let’s face it, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, and there’s already enough crying going on around here.

Well, someone has good answers. John Medina is a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine and he’s reviewed all the research on brain development in children ages 0 to 5. His book is Brain Rules for Baby.

If you have a little one, are planning to have one, or want some help being the wisest of grandparents, this post is for you. Let’s get to it…

Continue reading here.

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