An evening with Nigel Latta

FOS arranged for Nigel Latta to come and do his "Politically Incorrect Guide to Parenting" talk in the hall. Having read all (well, most) his books about parenting it was great hearing his down to earth take on parenting and education too. He was an amazing entertainer and had us all crying with laughter!! He also made some really good observations and told us all some information about learning that was based on evidence.

The points that I took most notice of were;

• At age 5 - 80% of a child's cognitive ability (intelligence) came from parental input,  and only 20% from their genes. This just shows how important parental support is for those children new to school. 
• At age 7 - 60% of a child's cognitive ability came from parental input,  and 40% from their genes - so parental input is still very important.
• Nigel's golden rule, " Don't make their problem your problem." Love this, and I'm using it everyday! 
• Nigel talked about having a Growth Mindset and made a really good point that bought together lots of ideas for me "If you can't do something you're either not trying hard enough or using the wrong strategy."

He also said that if there is a picture of a brain  on some research or commentary then people are likely to believe it without question!

Rats and Beetles (research done on rats and beetles was applied to humans!)

A fantastic evening!