Lobster911 writes: "Oh, I didn't mean this as an opinion, I meant it as fact. Your children are smarter than you are. The brain stops growing and starts shrinking at 18, but has its greatest capacity at birth. So maybe their minds aren't as trained, but do not deny that they are smarter. Disturbing, I know." I sense that there may be some irony here I'm missing, but let's pretend this was written in earnest. The various neural systems of the human brain continue to organize, refine, and tune themselves up to the age of about 21. The result of this process is, without question, enhanced working memory capacity, a richer long term memory store, and increased powers of logic and reasoning. One notable exception is language acquisition, for which there is a well established critical period that ends around the time of puberty. The existence of the occassional child genius does not run counter to the above, because these kids only get smarter with age. That said, a child's lack of knowledge often lends them a unique, fresh, creative perspective on things. -Sean