A recent study reveals that a child’s intelligence is inherited from the mother. That means, if the mother is smart, usually the kid is also.

And while I don’t believe in it fully — there’s so much that genetics can do — I see evidence of this whenever I look around.

For example, my cousin-in-law’s two children are top students in ICA, one of Manila’s most prestigious Chinese schools. This is surprising considering that Tyrone failed grade school twice, and almost got kicked out of high school. Every one was surprised that he even graduated.

Tyrone was a great guy, but as a kid, he was never academically smart, causing his mother to pull her hair during every report card season.

His wife however was pretty and received top grades.

They were classmates and she was a performer, while he was at the other extreme of the sphere. They fell in love, got married, produced two kids and BAM, the children are as smart, or are even smarter than the mother!

My father for example graduated from Mapua, one of the premier engineering universities in Manila, but he was just an average student. He was more active in extra-curricular activities than my mom, and had his fair share of bad boy adventures.

My mom however was a bookworm. Specifically, she graduated with a degree in Mathematics and taught calculus for 10 years in another university. In other words, my mom was slightly smarter than my dad.

When I look at my cousins (from my dad’s side) and I, it seems that my family was more inclined to study. My little brother, who hated reading and studying, still graduated from university with honors. I graduated from a pretty good university and my dad never had a problem with me academically.

Compare this to my cousins from my father’s side, most of them did not even finish university. Many dropped out due to personal problems, and didn’t amount to much.

And while I’d like to think it’s because I was smarter and better than them, I would much rather give credit to my mom’s wish to immerse us in education and academics.

My mom gave me free credit to buy myself any book I wanted from National Bookstore.

She supported me in every school project, and tutored my little brother every evening.

I was tutored my Chinese subjects every single day up until 9 in the evening. And after coming home, I would study my English subjects.

We were expected to graduate from university. It wasn’t a choice.

I think that intelligence is more about the parents’ belief in myself and my brother. Of repeatedly exposing us to books and real-life experiences.

According to this other research, parents of high achieving kids have higher expectations for their children. What they believe, they subconsciously do, steering children to the direction that they wanted.

My father used to brainwash me all the time, “You need to be a businessman. It’s great to go corporate but you have to start your small business.”

Well, he never told me the downsides of having a business, but maybe all his brainwashing had fruit since we now have a small business to manage.

So don’t laugh at me when I share with you that I am investing early in my daughter’s education.

How early?

She’s been attending Kindermusik the last couple of months, teaching her the joys of music, and this November, at 11 months, she will go to pre-nursery school.

My Husband thinks I’m loco but I tell him to watch me as I mold my daughter to love studying and reading and socializing with other children.

But I’ve been right so far.

She’s hitting all her mental and physical milestones early, and hasn’t embarrassed us too much yet.

Sure, I might be wrong and my child may turn out to be an angsty, gloomy kid, but hey, I’d rather bet and do my darnest to ensure she turns out to be the opposite.

Have a great weekend everyone!