Ross Geller is out there somewhere acting very smug.
Is your child obsessed with dinosaurs?
While plastic Tyrannosaurus rex or Velociraptors strewn across your home may not be your favourite sight, it could mean your little one is destined for greatness.
That’s according to one study, which suggests that kids who had an ‘intense interest’ in prehistoric reptiles may have enhanced perseverance, improved attention and enhanced skills of complex thinking as the processing of information.
The research, conducted by the University of Indiana and the University of Wisconsin, also found that dinosaur-obsessed children may have enhanced linguistic skills and may be better at problem-solving and strategising later in life.
These intelligence benefits also were linked to children who shared the same level of interest in horses, motorised vehicles, and/or planes.
Kelli Chen, a paediatric psychiatric occupational therapist at Johns Hopkins, told CNN that exploration and mastering a topic can help with forming careers as adults.
“A kid’s primary occupation is to play, so they’re going about their job of playing through the lens of this thing they’re interested in learning about,” she told the news outlet when the study was published.
Meanwhile, Paleontologist Kenneth Lacovara, says the magic not only lies in imagining these real but extinct, gigantic creatures, but also in ‘knowing more’ than their parents ‘for the first time’ as it makes them feel ‘powerful’.
“Their parent may be able to name three or four dinosaurs and the kid can name 20, and the kid seems like a real authority,” he adds.
Nurturing their enthusiasm also is key, as the research found most of these obsessions will pass and only about 20 per cent of kids will still have these interests at about five or six years old.
It also suggests that children, depending on their friend groups, may distance themselves from their interests, so spending time with like-minded peers or groups may help keep their interests alive longer.
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