By Olusola Aladejebi

We have a genius as daughter. ‘How do you know your daughter is a genius?’, you ask me. Our child is a genius because we, her parents, call her so! A genius is someone possessing extraordinary intelligence or skill. So says the dictionary. So what extraordinary intelligence or skill has our girl displayed to qualify as genius?

First of all, you would agree with me that the parents are the most important influence in a child’s life. It is not the school. Yes, it is true that many children now spend more waking hours in the school than with their parents. While the schools impact greatly on children, their influence begins where the parents left off. Good schools actually contribute greatly to the proper emotional development of the students. While some schools do fantastic job of being positive influences, they shouldn’t and cannot take the place of the parents.

So before she writes her first letter ‘a’, we, her parents, believe God has sent a genius to us as child. So she grows up thinking she is competent to do anything that is expected of kids her age. This view of her as possessing sufficient intelligence and skill is not superficial. So even if our ‘genius’ is slow in grasping HCF or Ratio in elementary mathematics, for instance, it does not detract from our perception of her as smart and intelligent. Her genius is not first a performance thing. It is first an endowment thing.

Stephen Covey tells about one of his sons who was quite behind in school work and even sports. He says the boy couldn’t even understand the instruction on assessment tests, let alone provide correct answers. He was also physically awkward that he used to swing the baseball bat while the ball was still far from him. But the Coveys effectively communicated to their son their belief in his potentials. It was a struggle to sustain this belief in the face of contrary current performance. This same ‘dull’ boy later began to perform excellently academically, socially, in sports as he developed by his own pace and speed.

As every parent is, we are wowed by our child’s continuous development of communicative skills and social/emotional intelligence. Many parents, I believe, have several times unknowingly opened the mouth in wonder at an ability displayed by a child for the very first time. One of the joys of parenthood is watching a child’s mind and soul unfold right before your eyes! It therefore very sad that the joy and celebration of the child unfolding potential quickly turns to doubt and dismissal of the child’s ability. By the time he approaches age 6 the child is no longer celebrated and often considered ordinary.

R. Buckminster Fuller puts it so well:

“All children are born geniuses, and we spend the first six years of their lives degeniusing them.

Somewhere along the way, for many children, the genius in them is killed. Sometimes it is killed by family insecurity; at other times by dysfunctional education; yet at other times by well intended but destructive comments of parents and teachers. The genius in our children should be nurtured otherwise it would be lost.

Finally. Language helps us to understand concepts and communicate effectively with others. In communicating with a child in Nigerian cities the default language is English. Even the woman who cannot write her name correctly tries to communicate with her little child in the English language. For sure, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide (in terms of spread). So it is important every child speaks this global language. But Nigerian parents must know that nobody would teach their native languages to their children except they do. We try to speak to our child in Yoruba quite often. She would certainly learn English along the way—in school, among relatives and friends. We do so at the ‘risk’ of sounding ‘local’ or unsophisticated, something some parents wouldn’t dare.

To think speaking to your children only in English language while ignoring, or even sometimes forbidding, your native language would make them have better grasp of English is simply not true. This is why: speech comes from thought. Languages are tools of thought. Since all languages have their uniqueness, each language a person understands enriches thinking. Understanding the native language would, in the long term, make your children express themselves better even in English. Put differently: a person who understands only one language is like one who uses the right hand only while the individual who understands 2 languages as one who can use both left and right. What about the person who understands 4 languages? 2 right hands and 2 left hands? Lol! But I am sure you get the drift.

http://mouthpiece.com.ng/when-you-have-a-genius-as-daughte/

This is a special write-up... And YES! My daughter is a genius

I'm not a genius but I'd say it's important anyone who is, be exposed to other ways of life that are not brainy.

My niece is a genius! My future daughter is a genius...

Nice thread.

I think the OP should be changed to 'When my child is a genius' or 'When you have a genius as a child'.

Peeps are already claiming geniuses as daughters leaving out their sons.

bukatyne:
Nice thread.

I think the OP should be changed to 'When my child is a genius' or 'When you have a genius as a child'.

Peeps are already claiming geniuses as daughters leaving out their sons.

Correction taken.
Thanks.

Lamanii22:
My niece is a genius! My future daughter is a genius...

Won't your future son be a genius too? Except you are not planning of having one.

They are geniuses if and only they possess a genius level iq.

Some years back my uncle went to the village with his daughter who couldn't communicate with our native language. If she tries to say jack in it then ready to laugh your ass out. She was around 13 years by then. The family grew up in PortHarcourt. The family did not take it lightly with my uncle. They mocked and accused him of not teaching his daughter his native language. He felt embarrassed that day. I have seen some parents still do it here in Lagos where they will tell you not to speak any native language to their son or daughter because they want them to be able to speak only queens English in order to be well honoured in the society. This is ignorance on side of the parents. A child of probably 5 years old can learn almost 5 languages simultaneously while growing. Every child is a genius under the right environment and school of thoughts. A child can only grow with his or her full potential with the help of the parents not the reverse. So parent let's tread with caution when raising our kids not to turn them into monsters that some are today instead of a genius.

bdchange:

Won't your future son be a genius too? Except you are not planning of having one.

My son is a genius too

Actually there are contrary school of thoughts to this. Some psychologists believe calling your kids genius or giving them the impression that they are naturally brilliant will make them take things for granted.
They argue that you should stress the importance of hardwork instead of natural talent. Don't say, 'you did well, you are a genius', you should say 'you did well because you worked hard and you can always do better by working harder'.
Whilst both schools of thought makes sense, I'd rather stress the importance of hardwork instead of any ego boost.