Anyone ever consider that Einstein had nothing like Baby Einstein toys?

Sweet, I have a new blog. Let the unsolicited opinions start flowing!

So in the process of getting feedback on SuburbanCEO.com one subject that came up a lot was the obsession our society has with kids being smart. Of course people have always wanted their kids to be intelligent, but good manners, religious values, etc. were equally if not more highly prized. But these days it seems to be the sole fixation of parents that their child be smart: every toy must be educational; hot brands have names like Baby Einstein, Baby Genius, Little Smarties, Little Laureate, etc.; every toy that plays music must have some Mozart in there on the off chance it increases kids' IQ's by a quarter point; parents of teenagers act like low SAT scores are punishable by death. I could go on.

This has been one of my biggest surprises upon entering the world of parenthood. Other parents are unbelievably competitive about their kids' intelligence. I just can't hang. When I was a more inexperienced mother I naively told a funny story at a playgroup about some clever thing my son had said. Rather than the amused chuckles I expected, the response I got was more like, "OH YEAH? MY SON DERIVED DE BROGLIE'S EQUATION WITH A CRAYON WHILE EATING THE ORGANIC BROCCOLI SOUFFLE I MADE HIM FOR LUNCH!"

And my kids aren't even school-aged! I've heard it's even worse once they're getting actual grades that empirically prove their vast mental capacities (I can hear it now: "Our son Caden graduated magna cum laude from the astrophysics department of his preschool.")

Of course my blase attitude about this could come back to haunt me. I just buy my kids regular old blocks and cars and stuff like that to play with -- but who knows, maybe a life of educational toy deprivation is going to make them totally dumb. I promise to rescind all the statements above if 16 years from now if my son sends a letter home from college that begins, "Deer Mome".