On Child Order & IQs

Do you think your first child is the smartest? Norwegian researchers do. The study, published in the Journal of Science, claims that the hundred-year debate of nature vs. nurture can finally be layed to rest thanks to their new findings.

Though the study was focused on 250, 000 men and their IQs, the leading researcher Petter Kristensen says it would still prove accurate if it were a mixed group of male and female subjects.
The oldest son scored an average of 2.3 points higher than the second born, and the second born scored an average 1.1 points higher than the third child.

While 2.3 points doesn't seem like a lot, it can still put someone on the upper or lower side of an A or a B+, or a D- and an F for that matter.

The study suggests we treat our first born differently, and researchers offer up these tips to help with this IQ dilema.

1. Talk to your child about everything, tell them what you're doing. When they are infants ask and answer questions for them. Tell your child what every item in the house is. Kristensen suggests we do this more with our first child.
2. Spend one on one time with all of your children. First born children generally have higher self esteem because there are no other kids for them to compete with in their early age when these types of features develop.
3. Give him or her some responsibility too. We usually stack it all up on the eldest, which is why they tend to be leaders (almost all American presidents and astronauts were first born children).