 A Teachable Moment:
Turn off the TV!
Do you know about Turnoff Week? Does your child? Twice a year, for one week, the Center for Screen-Time Awareness (CSTA) encourages parents and kids across North America (and the world) to turn off their TVs, computers (for recreational use), and all hand-held electronic games. April 20-26th happens to be one of those weeks this year. |
 Are children of older fathers less intelligent?? A new study appears to draw a correlation between the age of dads and the intelligence of their children. The study implies that perhaps due to the age of sperm, children of older fathers are, on average, slightly less intelligent, when evaluated using intelligence testing.
I'd like to suggest that perhaps this study is not entirely useful today. The data used is from children born up to 50 (yes fifty!) years ago.
Many things have changed in the last 5 decades. While certainly scientific evidence indictes that older sperm can be implicated in many things--including genetic disorders--40 or 50 years ago, it is also likely that an older father was less involved in his child's life than a younger father, providing less intellectual stimulation. These days most fathers--regardless of age are more involved in parenting than any prior generation.
For a study like this to be valid today, the intelligence of today's children needs to be evaluated and compared to fathers' ages, using new and sophisticated intelligence tests. In addtition, all others factors need to be accounted for. My bet is that a child's intelligence is affected far more by how much time and effort a father spends on a child than it is by the father's age. |
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Invite Dr. Susan to Speak!
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