By Liam Leepow, NYC Teacher
Many parents dream of having the perfect child—the child with perfect grades in school, great athletic abilities, creative talents, and the ability to amaze everyone who encounters them. It can be hard to not get caught up in the dream of having the perfect child. But getting caught up in that dream, often makes it hard to recognize your child’s innate genius and makes it difficult to offer the support they need as they learn, grow, and explore their own talents.
Read on for tips on unlocking your child’s genius!
Genius is defined by the Webster’s Dictionary as exceptional intellectual or creative power and or natural ability. This definition offers more questions than it does answers though. Are children born with this untapped potential? How do we foster and create an environment to unlock our children’s genius?
Leading clinical psychologist Andrew Fuller says that “Children are born bright and curious- with a greater capacity and inner genius than we realise. Every child has an innate sense of inquisitiveness, creativity, and lateral thinking that form the basis of genius.” All children are born with their own genius or own innate ability that we as parents must nurture and foster. But how do we nurture it?
Identify Your Child’s Inner Genius
Every child is born with innate skills that must be fostered to help them thrive in this world. Whether it’s singing, playing musical instruments, mathematical abilities, drawing, creative writing, or something in between, each child is born with something that they are good at. You may have noticed your child’s ability while observing them and blurted out “Wow, I didn’t know you could do that. That is really good for your age.” This is the first tell tale sign of your child’s genius ability, and it is your job as a parent to help your child develop their skill. But remember this one rule: Your child won’t unlock their genius until they truly love what they are doing.
Develop Critical Thinking Skills, Planning, Decision Making Skills
As parents, we want to help our children breeze through life, but that is the most crippling thing that you can do to a developing genius. A genius must develop their own understanding of the world and learn to find their own solutions. That starts by providing opportunities to help with their critical thinking skills, planning, and decision making. Start by asking open-ended questions that allow your child to think about their decisions, how they see the world, and how they can plan their goals out. Give them the room to make mistakes, find solutions, and start to make sense of their own curiosity.
Teaching Them About Can Do Mindsets, Motivation, Grit and Persistence
Our mindset is at the root of everything we do and having a can-do attitude goes further than many of us realize.Too many people give up on their dreams because the work becomes hard or tedious. It’s human nature to want the easy route, the fastest way to accomplish goals. However, grit and persistence wins the race. To foster a child’s genius you must teach them that failure and challenges are not bad—they’re lessons learned that help you become better. Teach them that we grow wiser and stronger through experience. When praising your child, praise them for their efforts not their success. Praise your child for their efforts frequently and remind them that the goals they didn’t accomplish yet are still within their reach.
Create Family Routines That Help Improve Skills.
As a parent, you must create routines that help develop your child’s inner genius. Try new things as a family to help your child develop new skills or strengthen their existing skills. Whether it’s running laps at the park, visiting an escape room, playing music together, or anything in between, create as many opportunities as possible for your child to explore the world and unlock their genius.
Wrapping Up
With the tips we’ve included here, you can start to identify your child’s genius and help them develop it. And of course, if you need help unlocking your child’s genius and full potential, we’re here to help!