Modern parents invest a lot of effort in the education and development of the intellect of their children. However, not everyone understands that the future of a child largely depends on what kind of relationship close adults build with him.
In 1986, a team of researchers from the University of the East Indies began an impressive experiment in the poorest neighborhoods of the Jamaican capital, Kingston. 129 children were selected for him, including the smallest ones. Their families were divided into groups.
The families of the first group were visited once a week by the researcher-curator. His task was to encourage parents to spend more time with their children: play with them, read picture books, sing. Children in the second group received a kilogram of nutritional supplement once a week. In the life of families from the third – control – group, everything remained unchanged. The experiment lasted two years, but after its completion, the researchers continued to track the fate of their wards for years.
As it turned out, nutritional supplements did not have a pronounced effect on the development of children. But children with whom parents, under the influence of curators, began to play much more than before, developed much more successfully. Their IQs were higher, and they scored much better on tests of aggressive behavior and self-control. Now, as adults, they earn 25% more than the other two groups.
After just ten coaching sessions with parents, children had fewer behavioral problems
An experiment in Jamaica clearly demonstrates how much a child’s future success in life depends on the attitudes, attitudes and behavior of adults close to him. So, for the sake of the future of children, first of all, it is necessary for the parents themselves to change.
Experiments in other countries confirmed this conclusion. Psychologists such as Mary Dozier of the University of Delaware and Philip Fisher of the University of Oregon have studied the long-term effect of visits to families by caregivers who taught parents how to create an atmosphere of affection, warmth, and trust in relationships with children. In fact, the curators acted as personal coaches.
For example, after just ten coaching sessions with their parents, the children experienced fewer behavioral problems, improved levels of secure attachment — a close and secure connection with an adult — increased, the children coped better with stress, in particular, their blood levels of the stress hormone cortisol normalized.
If a child grows up in an unstable and chaotic atmosphere, he develops severe chronic stress.
However, researchers note more distant results of experiments. Parental coaching has a positive effect on the development of children’s non-cognitive abilities: the ability to understand and follow explanations, concentrate on certain activities for a long time, interact calmly with friends, cope with disappointment and withstand frustration.
These abilities are extremely important when studying at school. Their formation depends on the immediate environment of the child, most of all – in the first years of his life. If he grows up in an unstable and chaotic atmosphere, he develops severe chronic stress, which at the neurobiological level interferes with the development of these abilities.
The good news is that this process is reversible. The main thing is for parents to realize that the quality of their relationship with the child directly depends on how successful he will be in life.