The Science Behind Making Your Child Smarter

What parents wouldn’t want to give their children the ability to get good grades and excel at work?

Those benefits are linked in research to a high IQ. Dozens of recent studies shed new light on the extent to which parents can—and cannot—help their children score higher on that popular and widely used measure of intelligence.

The history of brain-training programs for small children is littered with failures. Remember marketers’ claims in the 1990s, later discredited, that playing Baby Einstein videos for infants in their cribs would make them smarter? (The Baby Einstein brand lives on, selling other baby products and toys.)

Here’s an assessment of other pursuits often promoted as ways to improve your child’s intelligence:

Learning a Musical Instrument

The notion that becoming a musician makes you smarter has long been popular. Learning to play an instrument has been linked in several studies to higher intelligence.

After controlling for genetic factors and shared home environment, however, a 2015 study of 10,500 twins couldn’t replicate the finding.

Read the whole story (subscription may be required): The Wall Street Journal