After reading the book Freakonomics, I was a bit shocked. There is an interesting chapter in the book that analyzed and gleaned the data from an Early Childhood Longitudinal Study database conducted by the government. It seems that high IQ is set way before a mother-to-be picks up their first parenting book at the first news that they are pregnant.

The data is quite clear, and surprising at the same time. Reading books to children everyday, taking them to museums, staying home with them from birth until kindergarten has absolutely no correlation to high test scores in later life.

What does have a correlation: How many books a parent has in the home; fifty or more books in the home of a child yielded higher test scores than those who had none. A mother who was 30 or older before they had their first child also were more likely to have kids who tested higher. A wealthier and more educated set of parents were also an advantage.

It seems that the writers of Freakonomics were right. In test scores, it doesn’t seem to matter what the parents DO. It matters what they ARE. Presumably, a household that has books present, that had a mom who had a child at a later age, and where parents were wealthy and educated were already smart to begin with and therefore passed on the smart genes to their children.

I began to worry that nothing I was doing was mattering to my child. I’m kidding. I didn’t really worry. This chapter in the textbook after all, was measuring test scores and IQ. It doesn’t measure how happy a child is. It certainly doesn’t measure whether those high-scoring children can translate those scores to a successful, productive, and enriched adulthood.

I’m quite convinced that there are many highly intelligent criminals out there. Just as there are many honorable and productive individuals in society who had to work a little harder than the “smart” kids. My daughter scoring high on tests comes bottom on the list of many things I want her to be. Can I make her smile in a day? Can I build good memories for her? Am I modeling what it is to be happy, content, to persevere in the face of disappointments, to be kind and courteous? Am I instilling a love of learning and giving her opportunities to strengthen her natural talents?

So while the conclusion of the chapter dismisses what a parent does, I am not quite as quick to do the same. Every parent know that what a parent does matters, and it matter a whole lot to the one’s child.