How to have brighter children
Parents who are members of a club, society or similar group are likely to have children who score higher in tests for reading, maths and covabulary. This finding comes from a study of 2700 families by the University of Sheffield.
The explanation of the results is that if parents are involved in a club or society, they bring back to the house a variety of additional inputs. Their minds are stimulated, they make new contacts, they experience variant points of view, and they socialise more.
All these factors are important when it comes to the way in which parents interact with their children. Parents who are actively involved in genuine social activities are more likely to bring a variety of perspectives to the conversation with their children, rather than settle back into standard responses to questions, behaviour, discipline and so on.
The relationship between children and their parents is dynamic, and as such it demands a variety of responses from the parent – responses that need to change as the child grows. If however the parent is only able to exchange ideas on the issues this brings with a limited number of people (for example the parents own parents) there is little chance for new ideas to develop and flourish.
Furthermore parents who participate in activities outside the home tend to return to the home with a willingness to take on the issues of home life, in a way that those whose life is focussed totally on the home or which alternates home and work are able to do.
It is certainly true that many parents will find the notion of looking after children, working AND joining a club or society to be one step too far, although many others do manage the one evening out a week that such membership or involvement brings.
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