Discover The Genius In Your Child
EVERY child is born a genius. How are you helping your child discover, harness and develop his or her skills? You probably do not think your child is a genius because you are measuring up that child from your own limited perspective. You can hardly see beyond the end of your nose, says founder Intentional Parenting Initiative, Kehinde Babajide.
“As parents, we are usually most concerned about what our children learn in school and often forget that it is imperative that our children develop wholly. What skills do you intentionally help nurture in your child ( children) to help him/ her discover him/ herself.
It is important not to judge the abilities and smartness of your child solely on their academic performances. For all you know, there are a lot of other things your child is capable of doing that are not harnessed in academic work or curriculum.
According to the parenting enthusiast and mum of two children, “my daughter had a classmate who could tell stories, and this is nursery one at age three. Each time they had story time and the teacher asked them to remind her of the story she taught in the last class, this sweet child would tell the story from start to finish. I was sure it was not because she is intelligent which she is, I knew it had been a skill that had been nurtured in her consistently - she listened.
“We seem to dish out children who have only been programmed to read and probably cram. Have we thought of nurturing skills like problem solving, listening, or even to start and complete a task, creative and imaginative skills.”
Babajide noted that from the age of four, parents can begin to introduce their children to jigsaw puzzle which teaches the concept of whole and fraction, and the ability to start and finish a task. Every child demonstrates a comprehensive curiosity.
These age- appropriate puzzles have their preferred cartoon characters. For parents that would like to introduce their children from a young age to Science Technolog y Engineering and Mathematics ( STEM), there are model- building sets that come with pictorial instructions that are quite affordable too. There are play sets that help build their imagination.
Understanding and grooming their interests makes a wholesome child. Children have the ability to comprehend, coordinate and engage in tasks if properly engaged and given proper directions especially in activities they are passionate about. When they show interests in a particular activity, constantly engaging their interests brings out the genius in our kids.
Also, the temperament and disposition of your child will better determine what activity your child is likely to find really interesting. You can find a child who prefers to be alone, or quite stubborn, extremely focused or highly curious, it can tell that the child would love to a certain activity and will put in all of these attributes to achieve results. There is no negative trait or temperament, but being rightly harnessed makes the huge difference.
It is important that our children can fit into and even excel in any environment they find themselves, whether emotionally, socially, intellectually, academically as well as physically. Let us be intentional about our parenting skills.