Brain Rules for Baby (John Medina) / quote 54 of 91
Parenting is not a race
Write this across your heart before your child comes into the world: Parenting is not a race. Kids are not proxies for adult success. Competition can be inspiring, but brands of it can wire your child’s brain in a toxic way. Comparing your kids with your friends’ kids will not get them, or you, where you want to go. You can maximize your child’s brain power in plenty of wonderful ways. After breast-feeding, focus on open-ended play, lots of verbal interaction, and praising effort—fertilizers statistically guaranteed to boost your child’s intellect from almost any starting point. These things aren’t fancy. After all, the brain’s intellectual performance envelope was forged in a world that was not only pre-Internet but pre–Ice Age.