Yahoo Lifestyle Is this proof of the perfect age gap?
Does it seem like the minute your first baby is born, family and friends are pressuring you about when you’ll have another baby? Well, here’s the ammunition you need to shut them up (temporarily at least) – academics at the University of Notre Dame have found that siblings with an age gap of two years or more score higher grades in reading and maths than those who were born closer together.
The benefits were greatest for the oldest sibling, and in families with only two children, but also applied to children in larger families where the gap between each child was at least two years.
Professor Kasey Buckles, associate professor of economics at the university and lead author of the study says she believes it is the first research of its type to produce a conclusive result.
"We believe this is the first time anyone has established a causal benefit to increasing the spacing between siblings," she says.
They believe that the difference in achievement is a result of the time and resources parents invest in one child before the arrival of a subsequent child.
"The two-year gap is significant because the early years are the most important in a child's development - so dividing your time when the child is one is more harmful than dividing it when the child is already in school," says Buckles.
Children with an age gap of less than two years watch more television, and are read to less, than those with a larger age gap.
In addition, the difference in academic scores was most pronounced in families with a lower household income, leading Buckles to speculate that those with higher incomes can spend more money on their children to compensate for the reduced amount of time they can spend with each.
Naomi, mum of Charlotte (5) and Oliver (2), says it was hard to get back into “baby mode” after three-and-a-half years, but she doesn’t regret waiting to have her second child.
“Charlotte was toilet trained, didn’t need feeding and was relatively self-sufficient when Oliver was born,” Naomi says. “She was also at an age where I could explain to her what was happening and what was expected of her.”
Famous intellectuals with a gap of two or more years between siblings include the Attenborough brothers, Lord Richard and Sir David, and Albert Einstein and his younger sister Maja.
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