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HOWTOHELP
YOUR
CHILD SUCCEED
Want to improve your child's performance in school? Some noted researchers offer
a f ew suggestions for developing your child's human potential.
A:
any given mo–
ment somewhere
on this globe a
proud parent is effusi–
vely exclaiming, "That's
my kid!" Whether it's
the joy of a baby's
first
step, a daughter's tirst
ballet performance, or a
new promotion for a 35-
year-old "baby." it's
wonderful when children
do something to cause
parents such pleasure.
Parents want their
children to be successful,
happy, a nd well ad–
justed. Sorne parents
even go to great lengths
to turn their children
into prodigies, geniuses,
or
wunderkinder.
But
many mothers a nd
fathers may not realize
that they can do a lot
more toward developing
such traits. Recent studies have re–
vealed the sobering fact that parents
play an incredibly important role in
the total development of their chil–
dren. That role appears to be
doubly importan! during a vital ten–
month period early in a toddler's
li fe.
lmportance of Parental Contact
Professor Robert Zajonc and bis col–
league Dr. Gregory Markus, two
University of Michigan researchers,
have concluded that adult contact is
30
by
Robert D. Oberlander
a significan! factor in the devel–
opment of the intellectual ability o f
children. Thei r research found that
the clúld's rate of mental devel–
opment was related to the amount
of adult knowledge available to the
child. In arder to increase both the
parental contact and the knowledge
available to the child , both ncces–
sary for greater intellectual growth,
children should be spaced at least
three years apart. Their research
sbows more rapid growth in in–
tellectual skills when the parental
knowledge is not shared
by two or more children.
Recently there has
been a growing concern
over a drop in scores of
high school graduates
taking the Scholastic Ap–
titude Test. Zajonc and
Markus cite - the baby
boom of the l940s and
1950s as a possible cause
in these declining scores.
Then, parents had more
childre n and spaced
them relatively close to–
gether. Tbe researchers
feel the decline in perfor–
mance will reverse as we
move into the 1980s and
sec the reftection of
fewer children per family
with more time separat–
ing them.
Swiss psychologist
J ean Piaget for many
candida Photo
years has researched the
area of in tellectual development.
His work has reftected the "active
and creative nature of children's
thinking" from birth forward. Pia–
get's theories have lent themselves
to further investigation in this im–
portan! area.
In 1965 psychologist Bur ton
L.
White started a research operation
called th e Harvard Preschoo l
Project. At that time, scientists were
just beginning to realize that in–
tellectual development started bc–
fore school age. Dr. Benjamín S.
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1978