Raising Smarter Children

I read a fascinating new article at MSNBC.com today about the amount of time kids spend online.  It said that 16 million kids, ages 2-11, were online in May, 2009.

While I’m online writing this, it did make me wonder – are kids getting smarter spending all that time online, or are they just learning one skill set to the exclusion of others?

What happened to old fashioned skills like reading a book, going to summer camp, or playing cards?

Do you think spending time learning social skills are on the downturn?

So many studies say kids are using their online activities to the exclusion of other, interpersonal skills.  With conditions like autism at epidemic levels, teachers and parents complaining that kids don’t respect them as much as in the past, questions about time online and social skills have to be asked.

In short, I’d like to hear from you – are online skills making kids smarter or not?

I do know that spending too much time online hurts kids visual skills – because they are not focusing  at both near and far as often as they should, so the chances are they’ll need glasses at a younger age.

What do you think?

Remember, every child is smart and we can raise smarter children in every way – not just smarter online!

Warmly,

Pat Wyman

Founder, http://www.howtolearn.com- get to know how you and your child learn best with the Personal Learning Styles Inventory.  Kids and adults who are more kinesthetic or tactile learners, tend to learn with hands on methods, and may, by nature be more social.