According to statistical data, the proportion of children with extremely high intelligence in the population is less than 2.5%, which is equivalent to one in every forty children. If you are “unfortunate” to have such a child, what challenges would you face and how should you “feed” their endless thirst for knowledge?
Although the proportion is low, we have encountered such children to varying degrees. They usually have super strong memory, super fast reactions, and outstanding comprehension. A considerable number of such children have excellent academic performance, but there are also some who, due to not being well fed, waste their good talents and even deviate from their direction, becoming “troublemakers” in the eyes of parents, teachers, and classmates.
Children with high talent often face challenges from ordinary teaching progress and difficulty due to their high efficiency in acquiring knowledge, which hinders their interest and fighting spirit. Some children will take the initiative to “add meals” to themselves, seeking higher difficulty questions to challenge and improve themselves, while others will use the time saved from efficient learning to develop their hobbies, enrich their knowledge and abilities. Such children fully utilize their natural advantages and achieve better growth.
There is also a type of child who, due to a lack of guidance or high-quality resources around them, has nothing to do in their free time, so they spend their time in meaningless activities such as scrolling through their phones, playing games, chasing stars, early dating, and so on.
In order to enable children to fully utilize their intellectual advantages, parents need to provide sufficient resources for children to choose from during the process of educating them. These resources, first and foremost, are high-quality books.
Books are the best medium for carrying human wisdom. High quality books can broaden children’s horizons, cultivate their emotions, and broaden their horizons. Having a good book to accompany you is like inviting top experts to tutor your child. The level of these “teachers” is unmatched by any institution.
The ancient saying goes, ‘Read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles.’ With the blessing of book knowledge, the next step is practical experience. Practice is not necessarily just the current popular so-called ‘study tour’. Doing household chores, volunteering, participating in school club activities, participating in class affairs management, following domestic and international news, visiting people’s former residences and event sites, visiting museums and memorials, etc. are all good ways to connect book knowledge with the real world.
In addition to these resources directly related to knowledge and experience acquisition, there may be another resource that is even more important: family support. Children with exceptional intelligence often have unique thinking and behavioral patterns, which can be easily misunderstood. At this point, the understanding and support of family members become particularly important. Darwin, Edison, and Einstein were not highly regarded when they were young. If their parents did not have enough confidence and patience, they would probably not have shone as brightly as they did in the future.
The reasoning here does not only apply to those who have a small proportion of ultra-high intelligence. A high-quality environment is a great motivator for anyone with any level of intelligence. Whether your child is gifted or just average, if you want them to perform at the highest possible level, prepare them well for these spiritual ‘nutrients’.