The Bilingual Advantage Is Real. It Is Narrower Than You Think.

I have heard it repeated so many times I stopped questioning it: bilingual kids are sharper at switching gears. Then I looked at what the research on cognitive flexibility in children shows, and it’s real, but a lot more specific, and a lot more debated, than the version everyone repeats at playgroups.

She Knew the New Rule. She Played by the Old One Anyway.

I told my daughter the sorting rule had changed. She repeated it back correctly, then sorted the next card by the old rule anyway. I used to think that meant she wasn’t listening. What the research on cognitive flexibility in children shows is a lot more specific, and a lot less worrying, than that.