Kids can be a handful sometimes, and it is not like they come with a handbook. Sometimes they are doing everything right, and deserve a fun night out at our Lansdale trampoline park, and other times they won’t listen to a word you say, and are more fit for a night alone in their room with no electronics. There is no sure fire way to raise kids, but knowing a bit about what makes them tick can make the parenting job easier. To that end, here are some facts about, or related to,  kids that you may not have known.

The Grant Study

The Harvard Grant Study is the longest running study of human beings that has ever been conducted, running 75 years. It followed the growth of infants, and found that professional success in life is highly correlated to doing chores as a kid. It is a longitudinal study, meaning that data was gathered from the same group over a long period of time.

A Lack of Sunshine

A United Kingdom study found that three out of four children are active outside less than prison inmates, who receive a mandated one hour of outside exercise time. Researchers posit that this has a lot of unintended consequences for kids’ health—not just down the line, but even in early adulthood.

German Debt Forgiveness

When a German child transitions legally from kid to adult at 18, they receive a chance to have all of their debt wiped clean in exchange for everything they own. This is so that no one has to face a life of debt for choices they made as a kid (teenager).

Language and Learning

According to many studies, learning a second (or third) language as a child gives them a major head start on empathy related learning skills. This is likely in part due to a reliance on social cues from different people to determine which language to speak to them.

“We’ll be right back after…”

If you remember the phrase “we’ll be right back after these messages” from the 70s, 80s, or 90s, there is a good reason for that. It is because during this time, the FCC mandated that all children’s television shows have this message so that they could tell the difference between the show they were watching and the commercials.

Calculus for Kids?

We think of calculus as a course fit for people with a college education, but studies suggest that isn’t the case. Mathematicians have been able to teach children as young as five how to do calculus. Sociologists have taken this to to suggest that calculus should be taught to all citizens, not just those who go on to pursue a higher education.

The Ultimate Distraction

Chances are you have probably heard the buzz about how dangerous talking on the phone and driving can be. It is even being outlawed in some places. Well, it turns out that according to one study, driving with kids is 12 times more dangerous than driving while talking on a cell phone.

A Test of Fortitude

In Siberia, where the climate is freezing, it is common practice in some area to strengthen the immune system of children by having them run outside in the snow in their underwear and pour freezing water on them. Is this something we would recommend? No, but that doesn’t stop these Russians.

Sad Fight Club

A bizarre tragedy, in 2015 two day care employees in New Jersey were arrested for creating a fight club for the toddlers they were watching over. They had a dozen girls and boys between the ages of four and six, and posted videos of the altercations on Snapchat.

Gotta Play to Grow

Despite common misconceptions, an Oxford study found that children who play video games up to one hour per day actually develop faster than those who never play. They report higher levels of self satisfaction, less hyper activity problems, and less emotional issues. However, kids who played more than an hour a day lost these benefits, reporting lower levels of satisfaction with their lives.

Who Needs Polls?

Our country spends millions of dollars every year on presidential polls. And all this time they could have just asked their kids. Nickelodeon TV Network has been airing campaign specials since 1988 called Kids Pick The President. This televised mock election has correctly predicted who would win the Presidency of the United States all but twice since it has aired. We wonder how much all of those polls compare to that track record!

Broken Toy Experiment

This controversial study took children and gave them toys that were designed to break (don’t worry, they were absolved of blame after the experiment). The children’s reactions were measured, and they were tracked later on in life. The study found that the children who expressed the most guilt were also the least likely to display behavioral problems later on in life.

Smile, It’s Natural!

Children learn a lot of things from their parents and the world around them, but smiling is not one of them! Researchers have found that even blind children smile when provoked, meaning that it is an innate response rather than a learned behavior.

The Cinderella Law

In South Korea, the Cinderella Law bans any children under the age of 16 from playing any online games between the hours of 12 and 6 AM. It is allegedly done for their protection, and to prevent them from creating bad video gaming habits.

Effort Over Intelligence

A growing body of research is suggesting that praising kids’ intelligence, rather than their effort, can have a negative effect on their drive. In one study, kids were praised according to their intelligence or effort in two groups. Afterwards, they got to choose between an easy and hard test. The majority of kids who were praised for intelligence took the easy test (copping out), while the majority of kids praised for their effort chose the harder test.

Twins + Twins = Siblings

If you took a set of identical twin men, and they procreated with a set of identical twin women, the resulting children would all be genetic siblings, rather than cousins. That is because the genetic blueprint of each set of parents would be the same.

Hopefully you found some of these kids facts interesting. There is one fact that every parent knows; kids have a lot of energy. If you’d like to take them to a fun and exciting place to expend that energy meeting new people and enjoying fun activities, then take them by our Lansdale trampoline park. Give us a call if you have any questions about our hours, location, or attractions.