What Makes A Perfect Parent?

Or "What do we do as parents that actually makes a difference according to the cold hard facts and statistics"?

I truly believe that all of us here (because it has been shown that Bloggers are the higher IQ holders in society) are making our choices in the best interest of our families. Whether we work or stay at home, let our kids watch TV or don't or are obsessive parents or laid back ones... We make the decisions because we believe it's what's best...

...But, what do the numbers say? How many of our efforts are in vain or misguided? I was fascinated with this. What will truly make a difference in your child's academic health? (We can discuss social health at a later date)

I promised a while ago that I would blog about the book Freakonomics. (Can I tell you how much I love this book?) So here goes--

Here are 16 factors: Eight of them have a strong correlation with children's test scores (either positive or negative)and eight have no effect. Can you guess which things make a difference in your child's school career and later career success?

The child has highly educated parents

The child's family is intact

The child's parents have high socioeconomic status

The child's parents recently moved to a better neighborhood

The child's mother was 30 or older at the time of her first child's birth

The child's mother didn't work between birth and kindergarten

The child had low birth weight

The child attended Head Start

The child's parents speak English in the home

The child's parents regularly take him to museums

The child is adopted

The child is regularly spanked

The child's parents are involved in the PTA

The child frequently watches television

The child has many books in his home

The child's parents read to him nearly every day

This post will be continued Monday... and the answers revealed. I guessed most of them wrong. I'm interested to see what you all think...