Baby Genius

8/8/2019 Baby Genius

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How I Developed My Childs Genius And How You Can Do It Too

By Esther AndrewsAuthor of

The Manual Your Child Should Have Come With

How to Develop Your Childs Genius

2004 all-gifted-childrenAll rights reserved.

[email protected]


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Table of Contents:

How I developed my childs genius, and how you can do it too! ..1

Children are able to learn much more, much faster than you think! . 3

The myth of stress and frustration . 7

You cant teach a baby the same way you teach an adult 9

Children hate to be tested .... 10

Avoid boring your child ..... . 11

Learning is fun! .11

It is OK to make mistakes! ..... 12

When to avoid doing any planned educational activity ... 12

Follow your childs lead .... ..13

Make sure your childs teacher is trained to teach his specific age group .. 13


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How I Developed my childs Genius, and How Your Can Do itToo

It was my birthday. We were sitting at the dinner table, dining,chatting and having a good time. Both my children had presents for me,which they handed to me with a smile. I opened the first card, from myson Eric, and read: I love you very, very much, and I appreciate all thewonderful things you do for me, and how you take care of me and lookout for me (even if I dont show it enough). Have a wonderful birthday.

Love, Eric. At 19, Eric has just completed his first degree inMathematics at the top of his class, at a top college in our state. He is nowchoosing a graduate school, for his Ph.D. program. Professors fromschools all over the country are calling, to try to recruit him into theirprograms. He is being offered full scholarships, teaching and researchpositions. Tammy, my daughter, is a wildly successful, renowned childpsychologist. She works with autistic children, and is able to createchange in their lives. She gets them to do things for themselves, nobodyelse can.

The conversation is flowing, and I am basking in the atmosphere of love and warmth around me. I am looking at my children, and stop theconversation to say: I just want you to know, that I am feeling so happytonight, looking at you, 2 successful, gifted young adults, as humanbeings, and I am very satisfied and happy with the way you turned out.This is a high point in my life! I cant help reflecting on the past

I was standing in the hospital, looking at the little crib in front of me,and the tiny little baby inside. The baby was crying with a very faintvoice, moving her legs and arms, and looking at me, directly into my eyes.What a tiny baby! I picked her up very carefully, looking at my own

baby, trying to bond.

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How to Develop Your Childs Geniushttp://www.all-gifted-childrenchildren.com/package.htm


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Another young mother, who happened to pass by on her way to her baby,stopped, and said: You are picking her up without holding her head?You have to hold her head! Confused, I looked at her, and said: I haveto hold her head?

Yes, I was a fresh mother, and had no idea how to take care of mybaby. I didnt even know how to hold her, and needed instruction on howto change her diapers.

In my family, there were no other babies. My twin sister and I wereborn to my mother when she was 40, and had no little siblings as we grewup. My parents friends and relatives did not have babies either, so I hadno previous experience with babies at all.

The only thing that I did know was this: I want to give this child thebest chances in life, I want to develop this child into the best that shecan be.

When I returned home from the hospital with my newborn daughter, afew days later, I started reading all the books about parenting I could getmy hands on, and started forming my own opinions about parenting andabout the issue of the development of a young child. I found andinterviewed parents of gifted children, and started to do my own researchinto what it is that the gifted get from their parents or their environment,that contributes to their excellent skills.

After I have developed my own way of educating a child, and startedapplying it to my daughter Tammy, many friends and family members,some of which were experienced parents, criticized me and offered advice,and I listened and stuck with my own methods. My husband, an angelreally, gave me free reign, and let me do whatever I thought was right,but occasionally he looked at me with raised eye brows and asked if I amsure I dont want to be a normal mother.




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When Eric was born, 5 years later, I felt like a veteran mother, rich withexperience and self confidence. What a wonderful feeling it was! I stuckwith my own method, adding and adjusting it as I accumulatedexperience and knowledge.

A few years later, I opened the School for Gifted Education, which Iran for many years, until my son Eric started his college education.

Give Me a Baby Any Baby and I Will Turn ItInto a Gifted Child

I believe that its in the genes. Nothing you do can change it either itwas born gifted or it isnt. Thats what people say to me. They claim thatmy children are gifted, because they have my husbands genes and mine, andask me if my IQ is also high. Well, it just so happens that my IQ is high. But Itotally disagree with this approach. So please let me explain, and keep yourmind open.

I agree that because of heredity, babies are born with different potentials.But all of us are using just a fraction of our potential, so our potential doesnteven come into play! What is really important is how much of our potential weare really achieving. Let me give you an example: Lets say that John has apotential of 150, and Michael has a potential of 100. This is, of course, a bigdifference! However, Michael has a dedicated mother, who provides the besteducation for Michael from an early age, and he achieves 50% of his potential,he will practically function at the level of 50. John, who did not get thespecial education that Michael got, uses only 10% of his potential, heperforms at the lever of 15. Did you get it? Michael, who has a much lowerpotential than John, actually appears to be a genius, compared to John. Herewe have two people who perform at the level of 15 and 50. Their potentialdoesnt even come into play! So for the time being, forget about the genes andthe born intelligence of your child, and concentrate on helping him achieve hismaximum potential. If you succeed in that your child will be ways ahead of the pack, no matter what his born intelligence is.


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Please, let me share with you what I have found that works to develop achilds intelligence, his skills and ability to succeed in life. I will provide youwith an abundance of ideas, and you can pick and choose. Please dont feelobligated to use all of them. Dont feel guilty if you cannot fit all of theseactivities into your schedule. RELAX! Just do the activities that seem fun, the

activities your child enjoys. The ones that fit easily and comfortably into yourschedule. But if your child is not thrilled with the idea of doing a certainactivity dont toss it out! Try it again later, and see if he now is interested indoing it. Your child will be interested in different things at different times.

Children are Able to Learn Much More, Much Faster than YouThink

Talk show hosts love bringing children who have special skills and abilitieson their shows. Very popular shows bring talented children on the show, tosing and perform. In the newspaper you can occasionally read about a childthat has some unusual abilities. Children who at the tender age 11 or 12 arealready graduating from famous colleges. They are all treated like an accident

of nature.

I have recently read about a very talented, gifted child and hisachievements. The mother told the reporter that very early on she hasdiscovered that her son was gifted, and unusual. She is a piano teacher, andher baby used to be around during her music lessons. One day, when the childwas only two, she left the room, and when she came back, her son wasstanding at the piano, playing the music she has just rehearsed.

Was her son born a musical genius? Was it a coincidence that this child,the musical genius, was born to a mother who is a music teacher?




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A little boy, only 5 years old, is playing chess in the national scholasticcompetition. He wins the grand prize. His father is telling the reporter, that

very early on, he discovered that his son was a genius at Chess. The father is achess player, and took his baby with him when he went to the chess club. Thelittle boy used to watch the chess players, and listen to their comments.

Was this child, by a strange coincidence, born as a chess genius, to a chessplayer?

I think not! I am here to argue, that a childs learning capacity is far beyondwhat we can imagine. I am here to say if you keep your child in the roomwhen a music lesson is going on, your child will develop some musicalabilities. If you take your baby to watch the chess players, your baby, too, will

develop an ability to play chess. Your baby is learning at an amazing speed,from his environment, what he hears and sees. Since your baby doesnt talk yet, you have no idea how much he has learned while observing you.

This is my shocking and wild announcement: Give me a healthy baby any baby! A baby of whatever background, with whatever genes! I canturn that baby into a gifted and talented young adult, by applying thesame techniques and activities I have applied to my own children.

It is common knowledge that children learn very fast. Everybody knowsthat young children learn a language early in life, and they show amazing skillin doing that. However, when we observe young children learn, we are alwaysamazed. Why? Because we naturally assume that children are limited in whatthey can learn and understand. 2 things contribute to this: children, especiallywhen they are very young and cant speak yet, learn very fast, but they cantcommunicate to us yet what they know and what they understand. Also, wenaturally assume that childrens ability to learn is similar to what we learnedearly in life. If we learned to read at the age of 6, we assume that childrencannot learn to read before 6.

My parents generation seemed to believe that children should have plentyof rest, and when you teach children and keep them busy, you excite them,and take away their much needed rest. When my mother visited me when mychildren were young and saw the plenty of learning activities and learningmaterials they had, she said that I was over exciting my children. The fact isthat my children were very happily learning and actively researching the worldaround them. They got all the rest they need, and loved learning.


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I am 11 months old, sitting in my crib. Next to me, my twin sister,looking at me with her huge brown eyes, observing all of my moves. I amstarting to climb on the side of the crib, pulling myself along the woodenedge. My mother is working in the adjacent room, in her workshop. We

were put in our room to rest, and take our afternoon nap. I am not sleepyin the least, and have the need to do something, to learn something new.The few toys that we have in our crib are old, and simple. Too simple,they dont provide the opportunity to learn anything new. I must dosomething, move around, by busy. As I keep climbing around the crib, Ifinally slip and fall on the tile floor, on my forehead. My mother rushes in,picks me up from the floor, her face shows deep concern. I hear her latertelling my father how scared she was. I clearly remember the sharp painin my head.

I have clear memory of this experience, and I can tell you that the feeling

of boredom to a child is very difficult indeed. Putting a child in a crib, withnothing to learn, is as cruel as starving a child, it causes the child deepsuffering.

Here is the shocking truth: children can learn much more than what wehave learned in our childhood. For many years, parents were not aware of childrens capacity to learn, so they did not provide their children with theopportunity and the materials to learn all that they can. Moreover, parentswerent aware that if you teach your child early enough, and provide for themthe opportunity to learn, their brain will develop faster and better.

When my daughter Tammy was just a little baby, I started learning aboutbabies capacity to learn, but I found it hard to believe. I tried to teach her toread, but had no idea if what I am doing is working or not. I was ready to giveup, when a friend, Sarah, visited me. We sat in Tammys room, and shenoticed the flash cards and started laughing at me, saying that I must be crazyto attempt to teach my 12 months old baby to read. It cant be done, she said. Iguess Tammy didnt like the fact that Sarah made fun of me, because she took the flash card that read mommy, brought it to Sarah, and said: Mommy!.She then put that card back in the pile, and brought the card that had her nameon it, and said Tammy. Sarah looked at me, shocked, and said that if she hadnot seen it with her own eyes, she would have never believed it. Honestly, Iwas surprised too!




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Do you know that you can easily train a child to distinguish between a cardwith 89 dots on it, and one that has 90 dots, just by looking at it? I know that it

is hard to believe, because you cant do it, and I cant do it. But a baby can.

The capacity of a child to learn, and the speed by which they learn is nothingshort of amazing. But if you never try to teach them, you will never find out.

The Myth of Stress and Frustration

People assume that teaching a child early in life, has to cause stress andfrustration. Nothing is farther from the truth! People, and even professionalchild psychologists comment on some parents, who overload their childrenand put together a schedule that does not provide any resting time for a child.

That does not have to happen.

I agree that a child needs resting time. I agree that a child needs some timein the day to calm down, relax and think.

There is no need to overload a child, or to create a schedule that forces youto be on your way non-stop, running from one activity to another, from oneteacher to another. You can easily plan some easy, fun and relaxed activitiesthat will provide the opportunity for your child to develop their skills andabilities.




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Dont misunderstand! I think that its great if you can take your child to

swimming classes, to kiddy gymnastics, to violin or piano lessons, to languagelessons, ballet and all those wonderful opportunities for children to learnand grow and develop. I think that its great to do all the activities that youthink your child will be interested in and enjoy. I have taken my children to asmany activities as possible! I just dont think that you have to do everything atonce! You can definitely plan a schedule that provides enough resting time foryou and your child, and enough time for your child to develop their ability toentertain themselves, to think and to engage their imagination and creativity.You can do all this in joy and pleasure. There is no need to stress yourself noryour child.

As to stress and frustration, this is all completely erroneous! I find thatletting a child be bored creates far more frustration, than engaging a child withinteresting activities, activities that provide the appropriate learning, thatengage natural curiosity, interest and ability to learn.

I can tell you about my own experience as a child, of hours and hours of boredom, suffering in school, due to the slow and repetitive teaching. I wasbored out of my mind! Mathematics classes, where the teacher is teaching thesame concept again and again and again, trying to make it clear to the sloweststudents in the class, while I am sitting there, feeling that my patience iscompletely exhausted.

Do you know that many of the kids that are tested for ADD are justchildren who find it hard to sit still, while they are completely bored? Many of our schools receive funds and resources for the special education students,the ones that are slow, but they do not receive nearly enough resources to takecare of the gifted students, the children that need some more stimulation andextra activities to challenge them.

When my son Eric was in second grade, we were fortunate enough to havea wonderful special program at the public school, named DiscoveryProgram. An award winning, gifted teacher, Mr. Stadtler, has initiated thisprogram with some other excellent teachers, combining a number of SpecialEducation kids with some regular kids and a number of gifted students in oneclassroom, in order to take advantage of the Special Education resources. Mr.Stadtler created a win-win situation for all the students in the program.

In this program, the teachers assessed each child at the beginning of theyear, and created small groups, by ability, and then they devised a


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personalized plan for each group. My son formed a group with one otherstudent. Both tested at the 12 th grade level in Vocabulary.

The teaching started, but at some point in time, I noticed that Eric had nothad a Vocabulary class in about two weeks. So I went to talk to the teacher,

and asked about the plans for teaching my child Vocabulary. The teacher toldme that they had children who come from poverty stricken homes, where thekids did not even get a breakfast to eat before they came to school in themorning. He said some of the kids were hungry, some have experiencedabuse, and ended with a question: Who do you think am I worried aboutmore: a child who has no food at home, and cant study because he is hungry,a child who doesnt even know how to pronounce the letters in 2 nd grade, oryour child, who gets everything he needs at home, including piano lessons,special enrichment and after school activities, and who tests at the 12 th gradelevel in English Vocabulary?

I definitely understand this argument, I am concerned about the childrenwho are underprivileged, and am interested in them getting all the attentionand resources they need, but what about the other special educationchildren, the children who need special enrichment, who need to be challengedwith accelerated programs? Are they not entitled to have their needs met?

A Personal Note

I am not a child psychologist. I am not a professional teacher. I am a mother. Everything I tell you in this book is not a theoretical recommendation, a result of scientific research in the laboratory. It is not how I think it should be, or what I think

you should do. All this is a result of real experience as a mother, tried and tested inmy home, in the real world, with my children, and many other children I haveobserved over the years. Please, read, try and form your own opinion. I am a mother

just like you. I had a goal just like you to give my children the best chances inlife. I took responsibility for their education. I sent my children to school for severalyears, and home schooled for several years too, but I saw it as my responsibility tostay in touch with the teachers, to update myself on what is going on in school. I sawit as my responsibility to find out about all the opportunities available in ourcommunity for extra-curricular activities, for enrichment, for learning. If you informyourself of whats available, and let others know about what you find, other parentswill let you know about their findings. Together, you will be able to provide the bestprograms for your children.




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The Myth of the Geek

My dear friend Chris is a big fan of my son. He always tells friends howmuch he likes Eric. He tells everybody: Eric is such a nice kid. He is so smart, areal genius. But the most amazing thing is he has a great sense of humor, andhe is real cool, not a geek, like you would expect a genius to be.

Many people, when talking about a gifted, talented child, or about agenius, have a very unpleasant picture in their mind. They think of a child whois maladjusted, one who is thin, wearing thick glasses, one who has no sociallife, no friends, one who sits in his room and arranges his dead butterflies inhis collection.

I think that the media has created this image, and it is wide spread today, inkids and adults minds.

Please allow me to destroy this myth. Highly gifted children are usuallynice, many of them handsome, well adjusted and happy children, coolchildren who have lots of friends, children who are good in sports, childrenwho are normal, friendly, in short nothing like the geek that is depicted inmovies and on television.

There is a very simple, logical explanation for it! A child who is highly

intelligent, finds it very easy to study, does not have to struggle in school, hasa lot of interests, and enjoys learning, will obviously have more fun than achild who has to struggle, a child that has to work hard in order to succeed. Achild that has an easy life, of course, will find it easy to smile, to be friendly,to develop a positive outlook and a strong self esteem.




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You Cant Teach a Baby the Same Way Your Teach an Adult

My little Tammy is running all over the room, a crayon in her hand, papers lying all over the floor, busy producing a masterpiece . She is not

looking at me, on the contrary, she seems to be all focused on the job-at-hand, painting on a series of papers, spread all over the floor. I amreading a book to her, wondering if she is even hearing me, let aloneunderstanding what I am reading to her. So I stop, look at her picture,and prepare to get up. In my mind, I am planning what I am going tocook for dinner. To my amazement, Tammy stops what she is doing, turnsaround looking at me, and repeats the whole last page that I read to her.She says: what happened next? Surprise! She was listening to me thewhole time.

A friend, Josh, was telling me about his little girl, 24 months old. She was

so smart and cute. He was telling me about the funny and cute things she saidthe day before. I asked him if she could read already, and he looked at meannoyed and said that she is only 2 years old. Yes, I said, why dont you teachher how to read?

- Esther, your son may have been a genius, but my daughter is notinterested in learning how to read yet.

- How do you know? - Well, I have already tried to teach her how to read,but she didnt sit quietly and listen, she got up and wandered around the room,playing with her toys.

- Josh, how did you try to teach her how to read? I sat her down with abook, and tried to show her the words, and how to read them. She got upafter just a few minutes, and started wandering around and playing with hertoys.

This method will meet with failure every time, I can assure you. You can,sometimes, expect a 7 year old child to sit down for a little while and listen


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to you, but a normal toddler will not sit down and listen to your lecture, Ican almost guarantee.

In order to teach a baby, you have to use the methods that work with babies.Using the standard methods that are used in school for older children will

not work for your baby.

Children Hate to Be Tested

Eric is reading many words already. I have been showing him flashcards and he can recognize many words already. When we drive around,we play a game of reading the brand names on the cars in front of us. Healready recognizes Ford, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Mitsubishi and the like.Every time we stop at a traffic light, he announces the name of the car

stopped in front of us. He never errs.

Today, I have visitors from out of town. Riding with me is a familymember, enjoying my kids whom he has not seen for a long time. I like tobrag with my little Eric, 18 months old, and already reading words. Westop at a traffic light, and I am asking Eric what car is this? In front of us is a Ford Escort stopped, and a big Ford sign on the back. Eric hardlyeven looks at the car, his eyes on my guest, proudly announcing:TOYOTA!

Most children hate to be tested (not to mention when we brag about them!)

If you teach your child, and demand that the child prove that he learned, if youexpect your child to answer questions repeatedly, you will lose your childswillingness to learn.

It is hard, because you want to know that what you are doing works. Youwant to get some feedback.

You will! Have some patience, and your hard work will pay off. When youleast expect it, and when your child is good and ready. Your child will startreading aloud, or follow your reading with a finger, or read to himself whenyou happen to peek through the door. But your child most likely will not let

you test him.

Then what can I do? I thought youd never ask! Work with your child,without testing. Believe that what you are doing works, have faith. Trust me,you will not be disappointed.

Lets consider the possibilities. Lets assume that you are teaching yourchild some facts. Your child did not learn a certain fact. What happened? Did


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your child suffer harm by any way? No. He doesnt know this specific fact. If you didnt teach him that fact, he still wouldnt know the same fact, am Iright? So no harm done!

Lets consider the other possibility. You never taught your child this series

of facts. Or even worse, you taught your child, and then insisted that yourchild repeat the facts, and tested him this way. Now your child is losinginterest in learning. Learning is not considered fun any more. Now, in myopinion, real harm was caused to him, because he either did not get anyinformation at all, or he lost his interest in learning, both of which will affecthis future learning.

Avoid testing your child, and wait until your child is ready to demonstratehis skills.

Avoid Boring Your Child

Eric loves Math. He is 4 years old, and today we have talked about addition,and it seems to me that he has the concept of addition well mastered. We haveworked with blocks, and I have created 3 groups of 2 blocks, and I said if youwant to add them, what do you get? Immediately he answered 6. So I said:Eric, look, there are 3 groups of 2 blocks, we can say 3 times 2 is 6. Itoccurred to me, that he could understand multiplication at this time. Eric lookedat me, smiles, and said: Ah, so then if you have 6 blocks, you can arrange themin 3 groups of 2 or 2 groups of 3. I couldnt believe it! I said: Yes, and that iscalled division. 6 divided by 2 is equal 3. And 6 divided by 3 is equal

- 2, he said.

Keep in mind that your child learns much faster than you think. Your childis very young, and his attention span in still short. When you teach a youngchild, you have to move fast. If you are too slow, your child will lose interest.Work with small bits of information, just a few minutes at a time.




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Even if your child seems to be cooperating, always leave him wantingmore. This way, you keep your child interested. Think of a soap opera. Whendoes every episode end? When it is most interesting, so that the viewers tunein the next week to watch, right? The same way, you want to stop teachingyour child at the peak of his interest.

Learning is Fun

Eric is now 19. He just completed his first degree is Math, and is starting onhis PhD. He still loves studying Math, and occasionally comes to me all excited,telling me about this or other elegant proof or solution for a problem.Although my background is also in Math, I dont always understand what he istalking about, and I have never been as good as he is now. Today we had aconversation, and he told me how a friend of his was studying in a JuniorCollege. So he tells me that she said that her studies were very hard, and he

laughed. He said: Mom, this is so funny. She doesnt realize that really studyingin Junior College is not hard at all. Even studying for your first degree, or ingraduate school is not hard. It is just fun.

You want your child to be a life-long learner, dont you? So teach him thatlearning is fun! If your child views learning and studying as work or as anunpleasant activity, one that bores him and that causes him to be tested andcompared to others all the time, (and nobody likes that!) he will avoidstudying, and prefer to do other activities. Make sure you convey to your childthe idea that learning is fun and enjoyable. Knowledge and discovery areexciting!

Have you ever watched a child who is excellent at a game? I have noticedthat some kids can be brilliant playing a game, but will not excel in theclassroom. Thats unbelievable. If a child is brilliant at a game, I guaranteethat this child can be brilliant in academics. The only reason he excels at the


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game, and not in his academics, is because he views the game as fun, andstudying as work.

My son Eric, in our conversation today, told me how easy studying is. Hetold me that he thought it was very funny that my friends daughter told him

how hard she is studying at her college. He said studying is so easy. Youplay all the time. And then he stopped, thought a little bit, and said: Well,some of that play might be Math, but it is still just playing and having fun.

Eric is 19 now, and is starting his graduate studies. Even though myeducation is in Mathematics too, I no longer understand what he is studying.Nonetheless, he keeps coming to me, and showing me every time he studiessomething new and exciting. He still jumps up and down, in excitement,telling me about a very elegant proof or a very elegant solution to a problemhe found. Learning is definitely fun for him.

I know that this may sound very strange to you, if you have been used tothe idea that studying is hard work. It is not my intention to brag! I just wantto demonstrate the fact, that what seems to be very hard to one student, seemsto be a childs play to another, only because the latter views Math as funand games.

Take things lightly, enjoy the learning yourself, your child will follow.

Celebrate achievement! Make sure that you take time to celebrate everylittle achievement. Celebrate learning. Give your child a hefty amount of praise and show your appreciation and joy every time your child achievessuccess, or masters a piece of information or a new skill.

Dont ever criticize, let your child know that he is wonderful, that he islearning, and developing his skills and himself. Learning and gettingeducation is investing in oneself. Make sure your child knows that!

I must admit, that I was a spoiled child. I was born into a wealthy family,and had never experienced lack. One day, I met the daughter of a lady whowas employed in my mothers business. The girl, who was a high schoolstudent, did not go to public high school, and enrolled in a private school. Shehad to work in order to pay for her own tuition. I was so surprised to hear howhard this girl studied, in order to complete her high school education! This girlreally understood the concept of investing in herself. She has worked hard toearn the money to pay her tuition! She really understood the value of her highschool education.




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It is OK to make mistakes

Mistakes are an integral part of learning! Make sure your child is not afraidof making mistakes. Many of the most successful people alive today, (andsome who have passed away), have gotten there by trial and error, making lotsof mistakes, in order to find the one opportunity that made them successful.Teach your child that mistakes are simply opportunities for learning. They are

just feedback we can use to our advantage. We all know that most people arehard on themselves, criticizing themselves harshly when they make a mistake.Teach your child to accept a mistake as a learning opportunity withoutcriticizing himself. Teach your child to pay attention to his self talk, andnever beat himself up.

When to Avoid Doing Any Planed Educational Activities

Avoid doing any planed education activities, when your child is sick, or notfeeling well. When your child is not feeling well or cranky, do anything

necessary to sooth him. If you do an activity with your child while he is notfeeling well, he may associate that activity with feeling sick. Always makesure that you do educational activities when your child feels well, is happy andrefreshed.

Follow Your Childs Lead

My little neighbor Owen is a very bright boy. He is so much fun,always researching a topic. Right now he is very interested in thefirefighters, and every time he hears or sees a fire truck, his mother has to


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stop and give him the opportunity to look at it and research it. Christinais a very intelligent young lady, and she enjoys Owen very much. She hasa collection of books about the fire fighters and their equipment. She sitswith Owen for hours every day, reading the books and looking at thepictures. She enjoys role playing with Owen, where he is the fire fighter

and she is an innocent by-stander. Since Owen is very interested in firefighters at the moment, everything Christina does with him is somehowconnected to fire fighters. She is teaching him to recognize words allrelated to fire fighters. They look at pictures and discuss the smallestdetails (to improve visual discrimination). They talk about historic eventsrelated to fire fighters. They even learn about different countries, and their fire fighters.

Expose your child to many activities, and many topics. Watch your child,to see what he is most interested in. If your child shows interest in a certaintopic or activity, follow his lead. Provide everything needed in order to study

that particular topic, or do that particular activity. This is definitely the path of least resistance! Your child will enjoy himself, and you will enjoy yourself too.

Children are interested in different topics in different time periods. Forexample, children at a certain phase in their development, start dancingwhen they hear music. That is the period of time when they are developingtheir sense of rhythm. At that period of time, children are interested inlistening to music, watching a band play, looking at the musical instruments.This is an excellent time to take your child to open concerts, or to musiclessons. Take him to dance lessons, or kiddy gymnastics.Any activity that is related to music and rhythm will be very enjoyable at thisperiod of time.

If your child is interested in a certain topic, you can combine with itlearning about associated topics. If we look at our previous example, whenyour child is interested in musical instruments, you can teach him to read thenames of those instruments. This way, you are teaching your child to read,taking advantage of his interest in musical instruments. You can talk about thegeographical area these instruments came from, teaching Geography, orhistory. You can combine many disciplines with the topic that is your childsobvious interest at the time.




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Make Sure Your Childs Teacher is Trained in Teaching HisSpecific Age Group

Eric was 18 months when I took him to piano lessons. I have alwayswanted to learn to play the piano, and never have had the opportunity todo so. So I have selected a Suzuki teacher, and have agreed with her,that we come for an hour each week. Eric gets to be the first, but when hisattention span ends, I get the rest of the hour.

Eric enjoyed learning to play the piano, and soon we had a grouprecital. Eric was the youngest in the group. We sat and waited our turn toplay. For some reason, the teacher started with the older children, and theyounger ones sat and waited (not a smart strategy, when you work withtoddlers). Eric, being under the age of 2 at the time, was wanderingaround, checking out some seats and looking at the other children, whilewatching the older children play. He did not make any noise, nor did hecreate a distraction, when the teachers assistant approached us and toldus that if Eric cannot sit down in a chair, he will be asked to leave. Whenwe asked how long we will have to wait, she said that his turn to play hispiece will come in an hour.

The next day we have received a letter from the teacher, calling ourattention to Erics undisciplined behavior during the piano recital,since he did not sit quietly on his seat for the duration of the recital.

If your child is very young, and you take him to a teacher, make sure theteacher knows how to work with very young children! I am here to tell you,that it is unreasonable to expect a 2 year old child to sit down for an hour andlisten to other children play the piano. It is natural and normal for a child towander around, as they are learning about their environment. A child at thisage is curious about many things, and wants to research and learn by touchingand observing.

The teacher I am talking about, had no children of her own, was a beginnerSuzuki teacher and did not have the experience and training necessary inorder to work with such children. She might have had the musical knowledge,

but this is not enough in order to work with young children, keep their interestand make learning a fun and positive experience. Please, dont let anybodyspoil the fun of learning for your child, be on the lookout, and protect yourchild from any negative experience associated with learning.


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Health, Food and Nutrition

Health is number 1. When a person is ill, doesnt feel good, is bothered byphysical discomfort, everything he does is affected by this feeling. If yourchild is not in tip top shape, his brain will not function in tip-top shape either.

2 factors that you control are big contributors to your childs physicalcondition: exercise and nutrition.

In previous generations, kids would walk to school and after school, oftenrunning. When they came home from school, they ate a hearty meal,completed their homework and went out to play with their friends, in the freshair, jumping, running, playing ball.

Nowadays, things have changed significantly from the good old days.Children get far less exercise and movement. The school yard is confined,children still get to run around some, but not as much as it used to be. Manychildren have a very hefty amount of work to do, they spend far longer timecompleting their homework, having much less time for play. In their free time,they often just watch television, or play electronic games.

Children are heavier than they used to be, and obesity is wide spread.

I cant stress enough, how important it is for your child to be in goodcondition. If you child is not getting enough play, make sure he is gettingenough physical exercise. There are many sports programs your child canparticipate in.

One of the superior physical activities out there, is swimming. In myopinion, swimming is just about the most beneficial activity children can takeup. The chances for muscle and bone injuries are minimal. Swimmingcontributes to muscle strength, coordination, and above all lung capacity.While swimming, there is plenty of oxygen supply to the body, the lungsand the brain!

Swimming is beneficial in every age, infants can be taught how to swim,older children can practice swimming as participants of swimming teams.Teaching a child how to swim is also great for safely reasons.

Other beneficial physical activities are all kinds of sports, gymnastics, ballgames, and games like jump rope, hopscotch and so forth.


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Teach Your Baby to Swim

As you know, the fetus in the womb is surrounded by water. That isprobably the reason infants feel very comfortable in warm (not hot) water.You know that often when a baby is cranky, you can sooth it by giving it awarm, relaxing bath.

When you take a newborn, and submerge it in water, the newborn willusually not react with fear. It feels quite natural for a newborn to besubmerged in water, as long as the water is the right temperature.

If you want to train your baby to swim, you have to make sure that thewater is very clean, so the baby does not get exposed to bacteria and diseasecausing elements. You have to make sure that the water is warm, to keep thebabys body temperature in a healthy range. It is a good idea to get yourpediatricians permission before you start this activity.

If you work with a newborn, it is a good idea to start in your own bathtub.A standard size bathtub is an appropriate size pool for a newborn. Makesure there is no soap in the water.

It is natural and simple to teach a newborn to swim, by taking advantageof a natural reaction babies have: when you blow on their face, they hold theirbreath.

You have to be in the water with your baby, and hold your baby close toyou. Never leave a young child in the water alone, without yourbeing in the water with it! Watch your baby carefully to discover anyreactions of fear or discomfort. Start submerging your baby in the water,slowly and gradually, feet first. If your baby reacts by crying or any signs of discomfort, stop what you are doing. Check the water temperature. If the wateris too cold or too warm, your baby will not be comfortable in the water.

If your baby is not showing any signs of discomfort, make sure you playwith the baby in the water for a while, and make sure your child is enjoyingthis time with you, in the water. If your child is enjoying this, keepsubmerging your child until most of his body is in the water. This is good forthe first time.

After several times of doing this, your child will feel quite comfortable inthe water, and consider this time with you a fun, relaxed and pleasant activity.


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Now it is time to submerge your childs mouth in the water. Most babies willnot mind this at all, you can do this for a very short time at first, and let youchild get used to the feeling of having part of his face in the water.

When you get to this point, when your child is relaxed and enjoys being in

the water, is familiar with the feeling of being submerged in the water, andfeeling comfortable with his mouth in the water, your count one, two three,Blow on your child face, and watch to see his reaction. You will notice thatyour child is closing his eyes and holding his breath. Do it again, andsubmerge your childs face, mouth and nose, just for a very short second, inthe water. Chances are, that your child will not mind this at all. It is importantthat you praise your child, that you laugh, that you make it clear to your childthat this is a game, and it is fun. If you feel comfortable, and your child feelscomfortable, you can repeat this activity several times, just submerging yourchilds mouth and nose in the water for a very short period of time.

As you repeat this activity, you develop some confidence doing this (I mustadmit, first time I submerged my newborn son in the bathwater, my heartskipped a beat). Your child also is learning what to expect when you count tothree, and blow on his face. Believe me, your child will learn very fast what todo when you are in the water, and you count and blow.

From here on, you keep counting blowing and submerging, a little bit moreeach time, very slowly and gradually.

At some point of time, this will become a predictable, fun game. Your childwill come out of the water, laughing and you will know that your baby isenjoying this, and have the confidence necessary for the next step, letting goof your baby in the water.

It is important to know, that babies cannot breathe by themselves in thewater. As you know, the head of a baby is very heavy in comparison to therest of the body, and his neck muscles are not strong enough yet to pull hisface out of the water and take a breath. So he is completely dependent on youto help him pull his head out of the water, to take a breath.

But at this point, all you need to do is count, blow, and submerge lettinggo for just a split second. Make sure your child is not frightened, or startled inany way. Pick your child up, hold him next to you, laugh and praise him forhis achievements your child is on his way to learn how to swim, and that is areason to celebrate!

If everything goes as planned, your child is comfortable and happy in thewater, you can slowly and gradually increase the amount of time you let yourchild float in the water, but remember to pick the baby up and let it breath.


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You will notice that your child is kicking his legs and advancing in the water,most likely with open eyes.

When you have gotten to this point, the next step is to release your child in

the water, make a small step backwards, and let your baby propel his waytowards you. Pick his chin up, let him take a break, and then again count,blow and put him back in the water. A small step backwards. Your child isnow swimming!

It will take a while until your child will learn to breathe on his own in thewater. Usually, children start picking their face out of the water to breathebetween the age of 2 and 3, depending on the strength of their neck musclesand the weight and size of their head. My son, however, did not discover howto breathe until he was much older. By the age of 2, he was so adept atswimming, that he could swim the length of our pool under water, and never

faced the situation that he needed to breathe. He could jump into the pool fromthe side, and swim to whatever edge of the pool he wanted to, without havingto take a breathe. I tried showing him how to breathe, and telling him to take abreath, but he simply did not need it, and therefore, did not do it.

At this point of time, you can start teaching your child to swim from you tothe side of the swimming pool, or to swim from you to another person. Youcan invent games, for example submerge some toys and let your child retrievethem from the water. Always be careful and watch your child for any sign of problems. Be right next to your child at any point of time, so you can reach itin a heartbeat. Make sure to help your child pull his head out, to take a breathwhen he needs it.

Even if your child is like a fish in the water, never leave him in thewater alone, dont take your eyes off of your child not even for a second!Dont take your attention off of your child, even for the shortest split second,and dont leave your child unattended around a body of water, even if yourchild is not in the water.

It is a good idea to let your child jump into the water once or twice with hisclothes on, and his shoes on too. Use old shoes you do not mind ruining. Thisis a very good exercise, since when children fall into the water, the surprisecauses them to loose their cool and drown. Familiarizing your child with thefeeling of falling into the water, will make him more likely to feelcomfortable if he ever fell into the water with his clothes on.

From now on, your child will naturally learn how to take a breath when hisneck muscles are strong enough. He will become stronger, his lungs willbecome stronger. You can always tell the swimmers from the other kids,


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because they are built nicely, have wide and strong shoulders and nice firmarm muscles.

Conclusion: Being Gifted is a Childs Natural State

If you provide your child with plenty of learning opportunities, at an earlyage! If you use the right techniques and methods for teaching your child at hisparticular age! If you make it a fun and joyful activity to learn! If youremember that children hate to be tested. If you protect your child from anyharmful influence from people who turn learning into work. If you enjoylearning yourself. If you celebrate learning, and celebrate your childsachievements. If you do not overload yourself and your child, if you create aschedule that allows you and your child to relax and enjoy: If you do all these,you will discover that your child learns easily and quickly. You will beamazed at your childs ability to learn. You will be delighted to see that yourchild is developing into a gifted and talented child. You will discover thatbeing gifted or a genius is your child absolutely natural state.

To find out more information about activities, new research, newtechniques and resources for the development of childrens intelligence, pleasevisit our web site often. We continually update and add resources and articles.www.all-gifted-children.com

I wish you the best of luck and success with the important task of developing your childs genius. Lets grow a generation of geniuses!



Baby Genius

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