Hanging out with intelligent friends makes children smarter
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Children who hang out with like-minded academic achievers are smarter as it boosts their brainpower, a new study claims.
Parents need to understand their children's friends have more of an impact on their attitude to study than they think, child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said.
\"You are who you hang out with. If you have an average kid and they associate with others who love learning and going to school, that will definitely become contagious,\" the Daily Telegraph quoted Carr-Gregg as saying.
\"Conversely, if you hang out with kids who don't value school, are disinterested and disrespectful, then you are going to have a difficult time encouraging that child to study and to be interested or be clever,\" said Carr-Gregg.
Carr-Gregg said academic children would even go to the extreme of pretending to be dumb in order to fit in with their friends.
\"They will dumb themselves down to be accepted. It's not just a case of smart kids attract smart kids - if you have an average kid, they can be dragged down, or become smarter, depending on who they hang out with,\" he said.
Researchers gave 16- and 17-year-old students a list of participants and asked them to mark each as a friend, best friend, acquaintance or stranger.
The study compared the pupils' marks over the preceding 12 months with their social network and drew a strong link between friendship and the rise and fall of their academic performance.
It showed an acquaintance's success or failure had less impact than a friend's, however friends were more influential than those listed as best friends.
Although parents may be able to vet their children's friends when they were younger, the chances of successfully socially engineering their social groups became harder as they grew up, Carr-Gregg said.
According to child psychologist Dr Andrew Greenfield, the trend applied more to gifted kids getting caught up with under-performing children.
The study was published in PLOS ONE journal.
Full Article at http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/hanging-out-with-intelligent-friends-makes-kids-smarter-113022400168_1.html
How do you influence the social circle of your child? -
On the other hand, won’t hanging out only with ‘intelligent’ friends make an similarly intelligent kid less empathetic and less in touch with the ‘normal’ world? And a ‘dumber’ kid required to hang out with the ‘intelligent’ may suffer in self-esteem. And there are so many different aspects of intelligence too. As in all things, I feel that moderation is called for - letting kids make friends with a wide range of people of different intelligence levels, interests, skills, races, religions, socio-economic backgrounds…
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slmkhoo:
On the other hand, won't hanging out only with 'intelligent' friends make an similarly intelligent kid less empathetic and less in touch with the 'normal' world? And a 'dumber' kid required to hang out with the 'intelligent' may suffer in self-esteem. And there are so many different aspects of intelligence too. As in all things, I feel that moderation is called for - letting kids make friends with a wide range of people of different intelligence levels, interests, skills, races, religions, socio-economic backgrounds...
True, there definitely needs to be a balance and 'moderation' of exposure. Anything taken to the extreme just doesn't work (except maybe unconditional love =)). -
this is why some parents fight tooth and nail to get their children into certain schools
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Joule:
this is why some parents fight tooth and nail to get their children into certain schools
The other variables are factored in ie less behavioral problems since most achieving kids are more motivated in certain top schools, the socioeconomic background since more parents are highly educated, better resources and different expectation from teachers. All winning factors. -
Well, there’s also the small fish in big pond or big fish in small pond factor. To each his own, but I do believe that for pri sch, it’s better to be a big fish in small pond, cos in SG, every pri sch more or less get the same opportunity take part in national competitions etc. if a child is surrounded by all super brainy kids, then there is a next to no chance to get selected to represent the sch in any competitions.
But as they get older, the sec and uni do make a diff, esp if they get into the wrong company then it is really a headache.
Of cos learning empathy is very impt to a child. Also a child learns and revises when they coach their weaker friends too.
My P1 DD just told me tat she has been helping 2 friends during recess every day. She still doesn’t know how to describe it, but I think they are ADHD or autistic. She told me she wants to help them and be their friends because nobody in the class wants to be their friends. I was really very proud of her and frankly the last thing on my mind was if it’ll affect her learning. -
Dora1:
Empathy is something that has to be inculcated from young so that it will become part of the child's nature. I would be proud of your daughter too, if I am you. You did good as a parent....
My P1 DD just told me tat she has been helping 2 friends during recess every day. She still doesn't know how to describe it, but I think they are ADHD or autistic. She told me she wants to help them and be their friends because nobody in the class wants to be their friends. I was really very proud of her and frankly the last thing on my mind was if it'll affect her learning. -
Think the first sentence says it all....'like minded'...
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Dora1:
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My P1 DD just told me tat she has been helping 2 friends during recess every day. She still doesn't know how to describe it, but I think they are ADHD or autistic. She told me she wants to help them and be their friends because nobody in the class wants to be their friends. I was really very proud of her and frankly the last thing on my mind was if it'll affect her learning.
Your sharing reminded me of when my DD2..
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=640427#p640427
It was definitely a wonderful moment being a parent.. her parent. I share your pride today as a fellow parent. :celebrate: -
maybe i should hang out more with intelligent parents here...so that i become more intelligent...like shaking watermelons to assess how juicy they are :rotflmao:
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