A new study put forth by Brown University’s Center for the Study of Children at Risk postulates that you can tell if an impoverished child will overcome their family’s poverty or not from birth! How does this work?
Measuring children’s sensitivity
Well, first of all, you have to know that everyone’s heart beats differently when they exhale versus when they inhale. This difference can be very big or very small, depending on the person. The idea is that this difference also signals another issue.
The way a child will look at the world. Will they be observant and be affected drastically by a change in their environment or will they be more laid back and not really respond much to change? It turns to be a big deal, even if it does not seem so.
Children whose heart rates changed drastically were also those most likely to pay attention to their environment and get upset when drastic changes were made.
So what does that have to do with overcoming poverty?
Well, it turns out that the children who are highly sensitive are drastically affected by the environment they grow up in. Not the poverty or wealth, per se, but instead the connection they have with their mothers.
If the child-mother connection is strong and stable, then they grow up to be the smartest and most well-behaved children, regardless of the poverty levels in their family. However, if they do not have a strong and stable relationship with their mother, then they grow up to be among the worst offenders.
Children whose heart rates do not change as much seem to not be as affected by their environments. They do not do significantly better or worse depending on their relationship with their mother.
Thus, an odd correlation was made. If you have a sensitive child, the way you raise them matters more than what kind of income you have. There is no difference between good kids that grow up to live profitable and successful lives and bad kids who stay impoverished and get into trouble beyond the relationships they form as infants.
You can see how important it is for mothers to bond with their children and form a stable relationship!