Parenting Practices of Successful Nurturers that Boost Children's Intelligence and Confidence Levels
In a groundbreaking review of scientific literature, Lise Eliot, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Chicago, has concluded that there is "surprisingly little evidence of gender differences in children's brains." This finding challenges the common belief that boys and girls have distinct cognitive abilities.
Parents play a crucial role in helping children, particularly boys, develop strong verbal skills. Engaging children in frequent, responsive conversations from infancy is key. Talking a lot with children during everyday activities like dressing, bathing, playing, or walking exposes them to a variety of words and conversational interactions. Parents should tune in and respond to their child's interests and attempts to communicate, pausing to allow the child to process and reply. This responsive dialogue builds strong language skills through natural back-and-forth interaction.
To help boys develop verbal skills, it's essential to reject gender stereotypes about verbal abilities. Boys and girls have very similar verbal abilities, and boys’ lower performance is often due to societal expectations and less encouragement to engage in reading and communication activities. Parents can counter this by encouraging boys to read challenging and diverse texts and by expecting verbal competence early on.
Stereotype threats in math and science—the pressures children feel when exposed to negative stereotypes about their group's abilities—can also be prevented by providing unbiased, supportive encouragement that emphasizes skills and interests regardless of gender. This includes actively countering messages that girls are less suited for math and science or boys are less capable communicators.
Parents can also promote communication and social interaction skills through strategies involving speech-language support if needed, which helps children gain confidence in expressing themselves and participating fully in learning and social contexts.
Education pioneer Howard Gardner suggests that children have wide-ranging curiosity and learn all sorts of things from the world around them, but the adult world often guides them in certain directions. Offsetting the downward spiral of boys scoring poorly in verbal skills can be achieved by encouraging boys to read challenging material and by expecting them to perform well from a young age.
Research also indicates that parents play a major role in shaping children's caring behavior. Boys are as nurturing as girls towards younger siblings, but they may learn to hide their feelings as they grow older. Praise for boys being loving and caring towards baby siblings can help them become indistinguishable from girls in terms of interest in babies and young siblings.
In conclusion, a holistic supportive approach that encourages children to develop the entire range of abilities within their grasp, rejects gender stereotypes, and promotes open and responsive communication can help children, particularly boys, develop verbal skills and resilience against stereotype threats in math and science.
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