Get smart and Interact

There are millions of apps and educational software programs out there to make your child smart. Some of them have so many bells and whistles that they accomplish little and only add to the confusion and distraction that bells and whistles create. The best apps and educational programs are research-based – the ones that have proof to support their techniques. They may not be flashy or fun, loud and raucous, but they do the job. No matter what you purchase to make your child smarter, the best app or program is the one that both of you interact with – together.

Distraction doesn’t make kids smarter

Ah, there’s the rub. How often do you thank the app king for giving you a cheap babysitter for your kid? How often do you say, she actually likes learning when he plays that math game, spelling, or science game? Peace and quiet are what that app buys you. I get it, we live busy lives, and our kids are a part of that. We drive them endlessly to play practice, music, football, hockey, badminton, tennis lessons, dance class and so on. Even those events provide their own reprieve, other than the hassle of driving there. Apps and educational software provide an automatic means of distraction for our kids so that we can distract ourselves with our apps.

Smart Kids: Smart Parents

All sarcasm aside, the truth is that our kids learn best when we learn with them. I know that you parents set aside at least a half an hour at night to read with your kids. Third on Time magazine’s How to Make Your Kids Smarter -10 Steps Backed by Science, after Music Lessons and The Dumb Jock is a Myth, is Don’t Read to Your Kids, Read with Them. But do you set aside time to play the games on their educational apps with them, or learn a subject on the educational software that you buy for them?

…when shared book reading is enriched with explicit attention to the development of children’s reading skills and strategies, then shared book reading is an effective vehicle for promoting the early literacy ability even of disadvantaged children.

Marketing Ploys Don’t Make Kids Smart

Gwen Dewar says in Parenting Science that “Intelligence-boosting products are big business: books, toys, DVDs, software, games, and educational programs designed to make your child into an intellectual prodigy.” She goes on to say that is not always the truth. The marketing of these apps gets you to buy into making your child smart, but they could be a lot smarter if you engaged in those games and educational programs with them. Plugging a child into something that claims to produce a prodigy, is not the answer. They need you to guide them with laughter, curiosity, and intrigue to make things stick.