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Does anyone have kids that seem less smart than they were at that age? Asking for a friend.

bloak 8y ago
Definitely. Of course, different people have different skill sets, so it's hard to make a reliable assessment of overall intelligence. Nevertheless, my children seem less intelligent than me, overall, and I seem less intelligent than my father, overall. I believe it's called "regression towards the mean".
- ggm 8y ago
  That's the joke my dad told me. He got a first. We all got seconds. Case closed.
pizza234 8y ago
I do. I was not a child prodigy, but still, I was (am) significantly high on the "smartness" scale. My kid is definitely "not like me". I don't see any problem with it; I don't belong to a culture where success in absolute terms is the ultimate goal in life, so, "smartness" (which of course is a narrow definition) is just one of many, many factors.
- geomark 8y ago
  When you see that your kid isn't as smart as you were it would seem to be important to instill in them the need to really strive since success is probably not going to come easy for them but they can still do well. Wondering how smart parents do that, so I can tell my friend.
  - pizza234 8y ago
    You're making a few assumption that don't hold true in my culture/philosophy: 1. a specific type of success 2. the need for such type of success I personally don't value any of them, and in my culture they're not pushed hard, either. If I would be in that culture and philosophy, definitely, that would be a very troublesome situation, as it would put lots of achievement pressure on the children (and likely failure to meet the "success" of the parent. I guess there is literature about the relationship between genius parents (in a strict sense, so not my case) and children, since probably, very similar mechanics develop.
  - bloak 8y ago
    Success can only be defined with respect to a particular goal. We all have different goals in life. Goals may change, so it's good to keep one's options open, but to "instill" anything in a child is hard. With some teenagers the best thing to do might be to ban them from reading and studying and punish them whenever you catch them doing their homework. They might then do those things in secret just to spite you, and then they might at least have the option of going to university.
JeanMarcS 8y ago
It depends if the age of the kids and what you want to measure as smart. Kids, when growing, learn stuff, but not in the « same order » as other kids. Some gonna walk early (my sister was 8 1/2 months old), some gonna talk early (my parents told me I was able to discuss with adults at the age of 17 months) etc.. And it’s true for all the abilities. Read soon, draw soon. It won’t mean that they’ll be good at it later. Just they assimilate it sooner than others. So some abilities make a kid shines when another might not. Doesn’t mean they won’t be smart later.
- geomark 8y ago
  That's an interesting concept, that kids naturally learn not in the same order. Implicates an issue with school systems since curricula are rather rigidly sequenced.

Definitely. Of course, different people have different skill sets, so it's hard to make a reliable assessment of overall intelligence. Nevertheless, my children seem less intelligent than me, overall, and I seem less intelligent than my father, overall. I believe it's called "regression towards the mean".

ggm 8y ago
That's the joke my dad told me. He got a first. We all got seconds. Case closed.

pizza234 8y ago

I do. I was not a child prodigy, but still, I was (am) significantly high on the "smartness" scale. My kid is definitely "not like me". I don't see any problem with it; I don't belong to a culture where success in absolute terms is the ultimate goal in life, so, "smartness" (which of course is a narrow definition) is just one of many, many factors.

geomark 8y ago
When you see that your kid isn't as smart as you were it would seem to be important to instill in them the need to really strive since success is probably not going to come easy for them but they can still do well. Wondering how smart parents do that, so I can tell my friend.
- pizza234 8y ago
  You're making a few assumption that don't hold true in my culture/philosophy: 1. a specific type of success 2. the need for such type of success I personally don't value any of them, and in my culture they're not pushed hard, either. If I would be in that culture and philosophy, definitely, that would be a very troublesome situation, as it would put lots of achievement pressure on the children (and likely failure to meet the "success" of the parent. I guess there is literature about the relationship between genius parents (in a strict sense, so not my case) and children, since probably, very similar mechanics develop.
- bloak 8y ago
  Success can only be defined with respect to a particular goal. We all have different goals in life. Goals may change, so it's good to keep one's options open, but to "instill" anything in a child is hard. With some teenagers the best thing to do might be to ban them from reading and studying and punish them whenever you catch them doing their homework. They might then do those things in secret just to spite you, and then they might at least have the option of going to university.

JeanMarcS 8y ago

It depends if the age of the kids and what you want to measure as smart. Kids, when growing, learn stuff, but not in the « same order » as other kids. Some gonna walk early (my sister was 8 1/2 months old), some gonna talk early (my parents told me I was able to discuss with adults at the age of 17 months) etc.. And it’s true for all the abilities. Read soon, draw soon. It won’t mean that they’ll be good at it later. Just they assimilate it sooner than others. So some abilities make a kid shines when another might not. Doesn’t mean they won’t be smart later.

geomark 8y ago
That's an interesting concept, that kids naturally learn not in the same order. Implicates an issue with school systems since curricula are rather rigidly sequenced.