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Your Kid is Not Special
Most parents think of their children as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Little do they know, most of the OmniNerds are already grown up and their kids are just getting pale in our shadows. Seriously though, contemporary parenting has taken a turn towards gimmicks and tricks hoping to turn their children into the next great prodigy. However, regardless of how special and gifted parents like to think of their kids, they are really just like every other kid. Only 2-5% of children are actually gifted and only 1% of that set are considered highly gifted. Maybe one day, kindergarten teachers will adopt the pessimistic attitude of college professors and tell their young charges to look at the student sitting to their left and to their right before telling them, "the odds are, none of you are special."
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0 Nerd-Its
I am too special!!!
You are unique and special, just like everybody else!
1 Nerd-It
Tyler Durden ... Motivational Speaker
"Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else."
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2 Nerd-Its
Different kinds of special
You're only looking at one way of being special (i.e., being mentally gifted). Other kids are special for other reasons (e.g., being tall, fast, funny, compassionate, freckly, great at checkers, fun, double-jointed, patient, rich, careful, big-boned, etc.). Almost all are special simply because they're the only person just like them. To their parents, they're special because their parents love them more than other people.
They key in such reinforcement is not to give a child an inflated view of their abilities, but for them to develop a sense of self-worth no matter their abilities.
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1 Nerd-It
Killing the genius in our kids...
I just found this TED talk on education on YouTube. It reminded me of my own experiences in school, and how in fact basically every modern public education system drives the creativity and genius out of children by defining intelligence in an extremely narrow way.
Ken Robinson tells a particularly interesting story near the end, about a woman who was fidgety and disruptive when she was in grade school, and how she narrowly avoided becoming a bored, frustrated product of an education system that didn't value her talents--and instead grew up to become a highly successful dancer.
The video is about 20 minutes long. It's really worth watching if you're interested in intelligence and education.
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Well people are only praising their kids for being special because:
1. Praising raises the kid's confidence and ability.
2. Praising makes the kid feel happier and therefore won't grow up and turn into a freak.
3. Part of the praising comes not from actual valid observation of special qualities, but comes simply from the fact that parents love their kids.
4. If you were a parent, wouldn't you want your kid to be a genius? Won't you at least try to provide your kid with the environment and resources?