Age Gap & Academic Success

One big question when it comes to having another child is "when?" Turns out the answer could impact their academic success.

Is it better to have children closer together so they can play, or further apart so the first child can become more independent. It seems like when it comes to the future academic success of your kids, the greater age gap the better. At least that's the conclusion of a study just published in the Journal of Human Resources. Economic researchers looked at more than 12,000 siblings between the ages of 14 and 22. They found that when there was a bigger age gap, the older child was more likely to do better on math and reading tests.

The magic age gap, according to these researchers, appeared to be 2 years. They speculate that part of the reason this is happening is because it's easier for a parent to spend more productive time with the older child when he or she is still in the crucial 1- to 2-year-old language development stage. If the second baby comes along during that time period, the older child might not get the same language exposure.

But if you do have children closer together, don't lose hope. The key here is to make sure you read to your children as much as possible, especially the older one and constantly talk to them.