Every parent desires a child with special abilities, but these abilities are better developed from a young age. According to experts in children’s early years’ education and brain development, the critical period for rapid brain development is between birth to six years of age. The impact made during this phase stays with children throughout their lives.
Therefore, as a parent that wants to raise a genius child, you should pay close attention to him/her in the early years. Take note of every display of advanced and special intellectual characteristics, and follow these tips to set up your child to become a real gem.
How to Raise a Genius Child
#1. Feed your child with required nutrients
Developing the genius in your child is a journey that begins from the conception stage. And since unborn babies get their food through their pregnant mothers, it is important that mothers-to-be pay close attention to what they eat.
Some foods aid the learning capacity of the child while others play a negative role. Take vitamins that will supply the required nutrient for child development during pregnancy. These vitamins are folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin B12, zinc, and after birth, allow your child to enjoy exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months. Doing these sharpen the child’s brain and aid better academic performance. However, pregnant women must consult their doctor before taking any of these supplements or medications.
Children should also feed on a protein-rich diet like egg, fish, meat and milk. This will help to improve their attention, reasoning, and alertness. Allow your child to eat carbohydrates that come from whole grain as this serves as fuel for the brain. Finally, ensure you do not leave out vitamins and minerals from your child’s meal.
#2. Encourage early learning
The question many parents always ask is, when should I start exposing my child to learning? The answer we always like to give is that it can never be too early to start learning. Early childhood education is very important.
The moment after the birth of your baby, even the following day after birth. A baby can recognize some words often used with them. As one of the tips for raising a genius child, reading aloud with them helps improve their concentration ability. It also helps improve their range of sound and word over time.
Expose your child to simple arithmetic even from the early stage. Calling numbers to them is a good start. Remember to say it loud. Expose your child to science and some engineering discoveries too.
#3. Introduce coding to your child early
To help your child become a genius, expose him/her to coding early. The reason is that coding helps in the development of some abilities such as creative problem-solving ability, logical reasoning, computational thinking, and others.
Coding creates some curiosity in your child about the technology behind the system. It also lays the foundation for future technological advancement.
#4. Give your child smart computer games
The adage says, “All work without play, makes Jack a dull boy.” So, allowing your child to play with smart computer games, after a study period, is a way to develop his or her reasoning skills.
Aside from developing reasoning skills, games also improve hand-eye coordination, develop the mind, and enhance learning — such as arithmetic reasoning, musical instruments, phonics, words, rhymes, and many others.
#5. Don’t over structure your child’s life
It will be of great help if you allow your child to decide on what he/she wishes to do at a particular time. Compelling your child to live out your script will make him/her live below his/her ability.
Children who are constrained with a pattern of schedule display lower levels of executive functioning, compared to children who are not constrained with a pattern of schedule.
Executive function helps children in various ways throughout their daily lives. Examples of activities that can foster executive functioning in children include switching between different activities rather than doing only one thing and keeping calm when angry instead of yelling. Executive function during childhood predicts important outcomes such as academic performance, health, wealth, and criminality, years, and even decades. This is one of the surefire ways to raise a genius child.
#6. Foster your child’s creativity
Although children are born creative, parents can improve this ability if well nurtured. Help them to develop creative ability in arts, sciences, and other problem-solving experiences. You can achieve this based on what you expose your child to. Expose your child to literature, music, musical instrument, artworks, and mother nature. This can help increase creativity.
#7. Help develop grit in your child.
This is the ability you develop in your child that creates the desire to pursue long term goals. This should come with commitment, hard work, persistence and determination.
Having grit will distinguish a potentially successful person from his peers. Grit will help develop success instincts in your child. You can develop this attribute in your child by showing him or her some reasons for people’s failure, using examples that relate to lack of commitment. Also, state some limitations that may prevent people from pursuing their goals.
#8. Allow your child to take risks and fail
Life is full of risk, therefore; allowing your child to take risks will give him or her the opportunity to make some decisions personally. This helps to build the potential of genius in your child. Raising a genius child starts with allowing them to become risk-takers. This process brings clarity, understanding, and innovations. Failure or mistakes leads to pivotal questions. Answers place children in a position to develop new insight required for success.
The actualization of a great invention by the genius, Thomas Edison, was once filled with a series of failures. So, it is important to allow them to fail but encourage them to try again in a different way until they get results.
#9. Allow your child to be a problem solver
Problem solvers are thinkers. Permit your child to think and come up with ideas that will be the solution to certain problems. A genius is a person who does extraordinary things. Achievement in a little thing encourages deeper thinking for greater solutions. Thus, fixing every problem for your child limits the genius ability in him/her.
Allowing your child to be a problem solver is one of the most important tips for raising a genius child.
#10. Praise your child for hard work, instead of “being smart”
Praising your child’s effort helps him or her see that achieving success is entirely up to his or her ability, to a reasonable extent. In this same vein, praising the smartness of your child might be unhelpful for early childhood development. Even though there is a phrase that says; “it’s better to work smart, than to work hard’’; it’s not encouraged for children at this level. A child should be taught to follow through a process to completion and be encouraged to take on rigorous tasks, in order to build resilience for hard work.
Furthermore, parents should embrace the efforts of their children in order to develop a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.
#11. Discover and develop your child’s talent
Raising a genius child might sound like a daunting task, but if you can discover and develop your child’s talent, you are on the road to success.
Observe your child’s interest and passion, and push for development in that path. Many parents often care more about educational advancement, with less focus on discovering the child’s talent.
Pursuing your child’s talent also opens him or her up for developing intellectual ability. This talent may need special tutoring and exposure. Therefore, endeavour to go the extra mile to bring out the genius in your child.
#12. Don’t label your child a genius
Labelling your child a genius will put a great burden on him or her. This can be hard to live up to, as he or she is forced to deal with measuring up to expectations on a daily basis. While this can make the child better, it can also lead to frustrations when the outcome is contrary.
In summary, whether your child is born a genius or made a genius, stimulating him or her in certain ways can set the stage for the infant’s brain to begin a developmental trajectory that will influence what he or she becomes in future. You can make your genius by starting early and encouraging hard work along with diverse exposure.
