What is all this hype about flash card memorisation and mental mathematical abilities? Does it really help? Does it affect the child's brain? Or is it all rubbish? I've heard my Aunty go on and on about this and how her grandson is insanely smart due to flash cards and at the same time I've heard that it's all nonsense. What' do you ladies think?

I think it ultimately boils down to what you think about it, because there's no hard rule on parenting or raising a child. If you believe that it works, sure go ahead - if you don't, then just take it as new knowledge and leave it :) It also depends on how you want to raise your child, because it looks at what your end goal is. My end goal is just to have a son who had a happy childhood with memories of us playing, bonding and being there for each other (I'm a single mum), and to find out what his interests are - I'm not an academic or result-oriented parent, so things like memorizing, mathematical skills, getting ahead of others etc do not bother me. My approach is to let him learn through play, develop his character, personality and creativity - and find out what he's interested in so I can give my full support to him in the future. It's not something most parents would go for, but it works for me and it works for my son - and that's enough :)