Part Two: Raising Your Child's IQ

Chapter 10. What Is A Better Environment?

If the key to changes in a child's I Q is in his environment, then the basic test involved in raising a child's I Q is to provide the child with a better environment. What, then, constitutes a good environment?

Perhaps the easiest way to define a good environment would be to break it down into component parts: emotional environment, intellectual and verbal environment, and physical environment. Naturally only the broadest kind of generalization is possible in defining each of these since the variations among different individuals and families are, and should be, very great.

What is a good emotional environment? So much has been said and written about every child's need for love, affection and attention that it is both superfluous and trite to say that these are the foundation stones of a good emotional environment. But it is not enough to feel love for a child. That love must be expressed, not only in the usual physical and verbal ways, but by giving children time, interest, concern, respect, and consideration. Many parents tend to be self-righteous about the work and sacrifice they contribute to their children's welfare. Often they consider these as adequate expressions of their love and thereby abdicate a good many responsibilities for day-to-day contact with children.

A child, however, is rarely moved by what are to him abstract expressions of love. When Dad is too tired too have a catch with him before it gets dark, Junior does not realize that Dad's hard work will enable him to go to college years hence. He only knows that his father says, "No, son, I'm too tired." Or if mother is rushing off to a PTA meeting after dinner and has no time to read little Linda a bedtime story, the child does not really understand that the meeting is important for her sake. She only knows that mother says, "I have no time now, dear."

It may seem unfair to expect unlimited time and energy of parents, but the parent-child relationship has never been an equal one. Parents must find time to talk with, play with, and simply be with their children, because these are very real ways in which they communicate the love they feel for their children. The child must be made to feel important to the family, a person whose desires and opinions count; and in deference to his sense of strength and security, it is vital that, in addition to verbal and physical expressions of his parents' love, he should have the family's respect-respect for him as an individual.

Such respect is given to a child in many ways. It is given in his parents' attitude toward his ideas and feelings; parents can disagree with children and still permit them to express their points of view. It is given also when parents explain the reasons for rules and regulations, and are not arbitrary in the guidance and discipline they provide. It is given when parents express the appreciation and admiration they feel for any of their children's day-to-day achievements.

A very tangible expression of respect is the space in the home that is provided for the child's belongings and activities. Wherever possible a child should have a room of his own, one that is arranged and equipped to suit his needs and purposes, rather than those of his parents.

If the child must share his room with others, then he should have specific closet, shelf, drawer and play space for his exclusive use. These should be within his reach and should be designed to serve his needs and purposes. Easily accessible open shelves, for example, should be available for storing his playthings.

He should have a specific place of his own in the bathroom, the kitchen, and, in homes that have them, the garden or yard. The responsibilities that go with a place of his own can be further evidence to the child of his importance in the family.

The child's sense of belonging is also developed by his being a direct participant in the activities of the family-eating dinner, entertaining guests, taking trips, watching TV, setting the table, emptying baskets, wiping the dishes, shelling peas, repainting the bookcase, or making family decisions. The extent to which a child can contribute to such activities will vary with age; the extent to which a child will be interested in any of them will vary with personality. But most children will derive a sense of belonging from merely having the opportunity to participate and knowing that their feelings and opinions have value among the members of the family.

What have these emotional factors to do with intelligence? No one knows to what extent the IQ score is affected by them, but there is little doubt that feelings of anxiety or insecurity are at the base of poor or mediocre achievement in countless numbers of children. In order to develop and use their abilities to the fullest extent, children must first have the confidence in themselves that is the product of an environment designed to give them emotional security and stability.
Another significant factor is the intellectual climate in the home. If the child's intellect is to be developed, then parents must accept the responsibility for providing the stimulation necessary for such development.

How do parents fulfill this responsibility? By being actively interested in people, the world around them, the issues and ideas of their time; by being genuinely curious about life; by not being too tired or too bored or too fearful to ask questions about a subject that seems worth investigating.

Too many people tend to think of learning as a process that takes place only in school. They think that at the end of a given number of years a student receives a diploma and goes forth into the world an educated person-that is, having learned what experts agree he should know. It is a sad fact that many people almost entirely stop reading books when they finish their formal education. Having absorbed what they feel are the basic ideas of our times, they proceed to play a passive role toward ideas for the rest of their lives.

But man's knowledge of life and the world he lives in is dynamic, and a healthy attitude toward life and the world should reflect that dynamism. In constantly testing their ideas against the evidence of everyday life and against the challenge of new ideas, adults go a long way toward creating an intellectual environment of maximum stimulation for children.

Whatever intelligence is, certainly one of its basic components is what may simply be called the ability to think. Now, thinking is not merely a matter of letting various thoughts run through the mind; it is a process whereby one recognizes, analyzes, and solves a problem.

They may be innate qualities that enable some people to think better than others, but to a large extent thinking is a learned process. Like so many other processes, it is learned mainly through experience. We learn to think by thinking. The extent to which we have to think or want to think depends upon environmental factors.

Here, too, parents have a most important role to play. In the normal course of living, children are faced with many problems that spring from their environment. These may range from how to tie a shoelace to putting together a jigsaw puzzle; from solving a problem in long division to deciding whom to invite to a party. There is no shortage of problems, great and small, in most lives.

Many parents, however, have a marked tendency to solve these problems for their children. Parents do so for a variety of reasons: a desire to make life easier for the child; impatience with the slowness of the child's solution; a desire to guide the child toward what is considered a preferable solution; or a simple attempt to express interest. No matter how numerous and compelling are the reasons why parents do their children's thinking for them, in doing so they deprive their children of the natural stimulation environment provides for the development of the thinking process. Not only should parents avoid solving problems for their children, but they should also try deliberately to create the kind of environment that will present children with all the different types of suitable problems.

What is a suitable problem? Simply the kind that any given child is capable of solving by himself. It is unlikely that a six-year-old would be able to help his mother determine how to adapt a recipe for four servings so that it serves just their family of three. On the other hand, a twelve-year-old could learn many things from solving such a problem.

Finally, a good intellectual environment is one in which parents and children together explore the world about them. Every community offers tremendously varied educational resources, and these include far more than the usual zoos, libraries, museums, and cultural activities. To broaden a child's background, enrich his learning, and stimulate his interests, parents should explore their communities and neighboring areas with their children.

The local fire station, courthouse, bank, post office, shoemaker, garage and railroad terminal are easily accessible to every family. Nearby airports, construction projects, factories, historic sites, boatyards, terminal markets, lumber yards, woods, forest preserves, dams, reservoirs, bridges, and farms can all be stimulating places to visit.

These trips should develop out of the child's interests as far as possible. A question about, or an expressed interest in, airplanes could well be used as the starting point for a trip to an airport. Similarly, questions about fire engines, the mailman, money, trains, food, water, and the like can lead to profitable visits to appropriate places.

However, parents need not necessarily passively wait for an expression of interest. The child may never ask a direct question about, let us say, where our water comes from. Parents may use a suitable opportunity to stimulate his interest in such a question. For example, if the child should leave the water running in a sink, the parents, instead of simply admonishing him, might explain that this is a waste of water, why our water supply is so important, and how it operates. A visit to the nearest reservoir would be a logical next step.

Naturally the trip should be within the level of interest and development of the child. A five-year-old will profit from a trip to the zoo, but not to a factory. A seven-year-old might gain a great deal from a visit to a construction project and very little from a trip to a courthouse. A trip should always be enjoyable to the child. It should never be an ordeal which the child must go through in order to learn something. Essentially, it should be fun for both parent and child. In addition, a trip should be geared to the attention span of the child. The younger the child, the shorter the trip should be. Parents should be prepared for fatigue and waning interest, and at first sign of this should bring the excursion to an end.

Children should be prepared for any trip. Parents can do this simply by giving children a general idea of what they are going to see at their destination. Once arrived, simple conversation about what they are seeing is usually sufficient. Children generally will ask the necessary questions. A discussion at home about what was seen on the trip is fine if it is possible, but it is not necessary and should not be forced. Some children will talk easily about what they have seen as soon as they get home; others will not mention a word about it for weeks; still others will incorporate what they have seen in their play.

Of course, some trips can be repeated several times. Zoos, museums and libraries are not the only places that can be revisited profitably. Maturity and a deepening interest in a particular subject or idea can enable some children to get more from return visits to certain places. On his first visit to an airport a young child may see nothing but the take-offs and landings of numerous airplanes. When he is older and possibly more interested, he may see a good deal more: different runways, control towers, traffic patterns, the influence of wind direction on take-offs and landings, repair and fueling services and equipment, and the like.

Every child will neither see nor be interested in all of these things. Some will be bored with the airport after one or two visits, while others will want to go back many times. In this, as with all trips, there should be one guiding principle for parents-the child's interest.

Experience is a basic aspect of learning. It is one of the fundamental ingredients of intellectual development in general and verbal development in particular.

The third component of environment, the physical environment, is widely recognized as being related to mental ability. Mens sana in corpore sano-a sound mind in a sound body-is an ancient adage whose wisdom we have come to understand and appreciate more and more in modern times. There is no question today about the connection between a child's physical condition and his mental ability. Such obvious handicaps as impaired vision or faulty hearing are a direct detriment to a child's ability to learn and perform; yet if records were kept, the number of children tardily discovered to have either of these disabilities, as well as many others, would be astounding.

There are many specific illnesses that may negatively affect a child's I Q score. Children should have regular, thorough checkups by the family doctor and dentist. Diet, too, may play a significant role: there is evidence that vitamin therapy, administered in cases of deficient nutrition, can increase the IQ score. Proper diet, fresh air, exercise, adequate rest and sleep, immediate and proper treatment of illness, and constant preventive care are all part of a good physical environment.

The parent who analyzes his child's environment, then acts thoughtfully to improve it, may soon discover that the life of the whole family has become more satisfying.