Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy DNA and child development: Newsweek article

I found this link on hoagies, while searching for advice for discipline for DS4, who seems to be extra challenging lately. Very interesting article! Especially this part, since I had a very fussy baby who loves books:
What Your Child's DNA Can Tell You About Parenting

Quote:
One of the strongest and most counterintuitive findings in this nascent field is that children with a sweet temperament, which is under strong genetic control, are the least likely to emulate their parents and absorb the lessons they teach, while fussy kids are the most likely to do so. Fussy children have a hypersensitive nervous system that is keenly attuned to its surroundings�including what Mom and Dad do and say. In studies that are shaking up textbook dogmas, Jay Belsky of Birkbeck University of London has shown that fussy babies are therefore wired to be more strongly shaped by their parents than mellower children are. It is the fussy baby who, read to night after dutiful night, is likely to develop a love of books; the mellow baby, given the same literary diet, might just as easily grow into a teen who has no interest in reading anything longer than a text message. End Quote

Of course, after reading this article, I could just skip searching for the discipline books and conclude that i have one of the kids who that stuff doesn't work on...(i'm sure i mentioned before that i'm pretty lazy?)

Oh, and there's also info in this article about how some kids are genetically immune from the potential IQ-raising effects of breastfeeding.

That's spot on with my girls, so strange.......

That is kinda scary!

Sounds a bit sensational towards the end, but very interesting. The idea of finding out how much neglect, even abuse, a child can take does not sound like a very good idea to me.

It's almost like that information should be protected as part of the individual's private genetic profile, even from a parent! (Well meaning as we mostly are...)

Very interesting SPG. Consolation for the intensity of what I am getting now. I think her father was the most compliant, I thought of children, although I am her mother....

Ren

Very interesting article. It fits DD and DS ....

"Children with the genetic variant are unable to learn from mistakes."

This might explain why consequences, rewards, and punishments have no affect whatsoever on Pud. He just doesn't seem fazed by any of it. Hmmm, wonder if there might be a "gifted" gene tied to this gene?

I haven't read the article, but just wanted to chime in that there is some correlation between sensitivity and giftedness (to the point where it is not unusual for gifted kids to have sensory processing disorder). That sensitivity can be apparent in infancy as fussiness. And I agree that it may all go back to a hypersensitive nervous system.

My DD7 was a super-sensitive baby and last year did OT for SPD. Looking back, I don't know how I survived LOL. (and of course all the while my mother blamed me - she thought I was too anxious about my first baby - gee thanks mom. but she was born that way.) Now that I have four boys in addition to her, and I look back at their various temperments, I think they're all pretty smart but it's too early for me to compare levels. My easiest, happiest baby, DS2 (who seems even now to be the happiest baby who ever lived LOL, if only just by comparison - it's his fault we ended up having one more after him) seems to be brighter than the other kids because none of the others were talking at his age (the others are late bloomers/2E-types; whereas happy boy was the most healthy of my pgs due to some issues I have). And the latest one, DS(3 months), is pretty darn sensitive to sound (like my bare feet tiptoe-ing on the carpet) for a kid growing up in such a noisy household. Only time will tell.

I think the only thing to be gleaned from this information is that when dealing with a fussy baby we may look on the bright side - he/she might turn out to be gifted. A silver lining amidst the crying.

oh, I must add about punishments - punishments have very little effect on my kids and it drives me crazy. For DD7, there is nothing I can do to her.

And FWIW, MIL commented recently that there was no punishment that worked on DH, LOL.

This is off topic, but, Snowgirl, I have to ask, what do you do with your DD7? We've been going crazy trying to find something that works. He's usually a mellow fellow but can turn into a screaming, raging, temper tantrum in the blink of an eye. But, he only does this at home. He is perfectly well behaved everywhere else. While were were on vacation, he stayed with gramma for 2 1/2 weeks. She had to get on to him 2 times!

I'm beginning to wonder if there is an underlying sensitivity or overexcitability or somethiing that makes him act up. He tells us that it's just because "I don't want to do what you tell me to do".

Sorry to hijack the original post. I'll start a new thread if you want me to.