I love to read to my kids. I think it’s one of the most important things I can do for them. They look forward to going to the library and the book store. My older daughter is learning to read in school and gets excited when she can read a sentence on her own. When she asks me who the illustrator of a book is, I know there is a light bulb going on somewhere. So, when a study comes out saying reading to kids doesn’t increase their IQ, I have to roll my eyes.

In a time when we are trying to get parents to spend more time with their kids, let’s discourage them by telling them that sharing the gift of reading will do nothing to make their little ones smarter.

A researcher discovered that how we parent will do nothing to change our children’s IQ because of the role genetics plays. His argument is the way we “parent a child is not going to have a detectable effect on their IQ as long as that parenting is within normal bounds.”

To say I disagree would be an understatement. Kids whose parents don’t read to them will be just as smart as kids whose parents do because of genetics? I don’t think so. Sure, all kids are going to learn to read at school. But, if you don’t do anything at home to reinforce those lessons, all is lost in my opinion. Parents need to take on the responsibility of educator as well. I think laying it all on genetics is just dumb. Studies like these give parents an excuse not to do something they should have been doing all along.

What are your thoughts?