Its part genetics, but nurture is so much more powerful. Intelligence is not that important - what is that kids get the help they need and the opportunity to develop at their own pace while learning discipline and respect for others.
In this respect, non-HG parents may do a better job that those parents focused on "how smart Johnny is."
Good point. I am a social worker and am all about values and social skills, and all that good touchy feely stuff. I feel like my DS4 has a good shot in some ways because that is my emphasis. He is an amazing caring kid (not that I am biased) but clearly his focus is more academic. I would not change my DS for anything, but if you asked me what my goals for him are I would say that I want a caring, loving son that has values and respect for others. Education is important to me, but if he didn't want to go to college and he was happy I would be fine with that. Anyhow, sometimes I feel a little odd because I am so different from him, but I can still keep up pretty well. When he is 8 I may struggle a bit but I have a few years.
Intelligence by itself without the other values and qualities is useless. That is why it drives me nuts that classrooms focus all on academics and not character building and all that. I know that kids should be getting it home, but they often don't. I go into pre-k's and K's in the inner-city schools and teach about feelings, and what to do when we feel certain ways, and how to show others you care. It is great. Hopefully if we can start early enough we can see some changes...but that is another post entirely. I digress....
