Can Parents Make Kids Smarter?

Photo by Thinkstock

As parents, it’s nice to think that our behaviors — reading to our kids, holding sit-down family dinners, engaging in conversation at the end of every day — have a direct impact on our children’s lives. But according to a new study from Florida State University, there’s one area where parental socialization has no long-term effect: IQ.

Related: How to Raise a Genius

“Parental socialization has long been thought to influence their children’s intelligence. After all, parents who engage in these types of practices tend to have children with higher intelligence,” criminology professor and study author Kevin Beaver tells Yahoo Parenting.  “What has not been taken seriously is that these associations are really due to genetic transmission, not socialization.”

To get to the bottom of this, Beaver studied a sample of adopted children and found that once genetics were controlled for, parental behavior had no influence on IQ. Which is not to say that socializing behaviors like family dinners aren’t still good practice, Beaver says. “Certainly, these types of parenting strategies promote other types of outcomes and are likely good for overall well-being,” he says. “All that this study shows is that these parenting techniques are unrelated to intelligence later in life.”

Related: Why Our Boys Are Falling Behind In School (and What We Can Do About It) 

But intelligence is more than just IQ, says Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a psychologist and professor of The Great Courses video series Raising Emotionally and Socially Healthy Kids. “IQ is an excellent predictor of academic smarts, but it’s not a predictor of whether people will be successful later in life,” Kennedy-Moore tells Yahoo Parenting. “There are many ways to look at intelligence. Having an engaging conversation, for example, is a good way to teach people how to be in a relationship, and that’s social intelligence.”

And even if you can’t directly influence IQ, parental behaviors will still affect a child’s attitude toward education, according to Kennedy-Moore. “Modeling your own curiosity, having books in the house, and making kids do homework before watching TV — these will all influence how open a child is to learning,” she says. “As a parent, I wouldn’t worry so much about ‘can we boost her IQ?’ as ‘do we as parents support an openness to learning?’”

Related: 6 Surprising Signs of Learning Disorders

Ultimately, a parent’s goal should not be to skyrocket a child’s IQ but to prepare him for the rest of his life, Kennedy-Moore says. “Our intention in reading to our kids or having conversations with them isn’t all about trying to make them smarter. These things are deeply important for the right here, right now relationship,” she says. “A parent’s job is to help kids learn the skills they’ll need throughout life – being able to learn, handle frustration, build relationships, and figure out what matters to them.”

In other words, don’t give up on Goodnight, Moon just yet.