Much has been discussed about making your kids brilliant and geniuses, topics on which several TV serial documentaries have been aired around the world, yet many child psychologists still disagree on the best ways to boost your child’s intellect. The techniques are many and varied with experts advocating one approach or another. The approaches seem to be categorised in these groups:

• Repetitive learning / Cramming – examples of this approach include the after school learning schools and tutors.
• Memory techniques – there are many techniques from visual learning, to NLP type techniques to using music.
• Mind mapping techniques – especially useful during revision time
• Structured role/game play – Schools often will put children in a roles such as team captain, class rep etc. Parents will often pretend to race their children and lose in a very close race upstairs.
• Action & reward – schools, sports clubs often give out awards of recognition for achievement, behaviour etc. Parents will sometimes limit their children’s pocket money when they ‘don’t behave’.

We all know that children are naturally curious, learning rapidly, soaking up new knowledge, skills and experiences very quickly. A child’s brain is like a sponge, waiting to be filled. Even an unborn child will react to stimulus. The brain is a tool waiting to be filled and developed with knowledge, information, skills, and experiences and then used. The adage “rubbish in = rubbish out” is especially true during these critical formative years.

A child’s curiosity holds little fear or inhibition. As they grow, they develop their natural traits and skills. Where they end up in life or how brilliant they become is dependant on their development as a child – this is cause and effect scenario – albeit a delayed effect.

Sprinter Carl Lewis became a multi World and Olympic champion by focussing and applying himself over a number of years. This is no different to every successful and brilliant person – they have all done the same to reach where they are now.

Whether child psychologists and other experts realise it or not, all the techniques seem to emphasize parts of 2 common areas:

1.     Teaching The Child To Learn How To Control His or Her Mind.  

You need to think of the mind or brain as a ‘tool’. The mind controls the body, and any physical activity. Hence, the better a child is able to control his or her mind, the better they can focus and apply it. All the activities of the different learning approaches are geared towards making this happen either intentionally or un-intentionally.

The mind responds to many types of stimuli (‘food’) to develop and grow. Each type of stimuli impacts a different part and function of the brain. Hence a holistic, well rounded and flexible approach needs to be adopted. What kind of ‘food’ are you feeding your child’s mind?

A purely academic approach is unsuitable for most children – all areas need to be nurtured – creativity, social skills, verbal skills, analytical and problem solving skills, physical development, spiritual guidance, confidence. The brain receptors for all these functions are grouped together in different areas of the brain.

The brain is in effect a very sophisticated electro-chemical processor. In order to work optimally, certain raw materials are needed – chemical nutrients and a good supply of oxygen.

Chemical nutrients are taken from the food we eat, which is broken down into these chemical constituents, which are carried by our blood stream to various parts of the body which draw out the ones needed in that part of the body.

The amount of oxygen supplied is determined by 3 things – the level of red blood cells in the body to carry oxygen molecules, lung capacity that determines the amount of air drawn into the body from which oxygen is extracted, and the level at which the heart can pump blood around the body. The latter two are connected, and they can be improved by levels of exercise and physical activity.

When a child is born, some areas of the brain will already more developed than other areas, and these strengths or natural gifts will vary from child to child. Some children are naturally gifted in music, or maths, or art.

Take the example of musical child prodigy, Marc Yu, through his remarkable progress in the world of classical music.

At age two, little Marc could bang out “Mary had a little lamb” on the piano after listening to the tune once.

At three, he gave his first public performance on the piano, performing a Beethoven piece.

And at seven, he is able to play 40 pieces of classical music from memory. It is truly extraordinary to listen to him play an exquisite Chopin nocturne that would have stumped a teenager who is twice his age and of normal intelligence, with a bit more practice under his belt. As the boy genius puts it gleefully: “I like the difficult pieces, especially when my teacher says no.”

It also turns out that he has perfect pitch (industry insiders will know this is a very rare talent), which he was born with, not taught. Only one in 10,000 people have it. 

2.     There is a Process of Nurturing Over a Period of Years

This can only really be achieved through an effective combination of parents (parents like you who are smart enough to realise this have a major role to play in this), schooling and the environment the child grows up in.

You will have realised that without this nurturing, they will grow ‘wild’, and subject to the fancy whims of their un-nurtured minds. A certain amount of focus and discipline will go a long way, whether you are looking for a well rounded child, or you want to hone in on his or hers strengths – music, sport etc.

There is a sad, but cautionary real-life tale of a young girl, “Jeannie”, in the US who was deprived of communication with people from the age of two. Cut off from human contact, the girl was left with the mental age of an 18-month-old toddler. She could barely control her psycho-motor functions when social workers found her at age 13. She eventually learnt words, but could never string them together in a grammatical sentence because she had passed the age for learning language.

The experts say this: Intelligence can be inborn, but it must be nurtured at a young age to help the mind achieve its full potential. And the earlier you catch a child to nurture his mind, the better the brain becomes learning and developing. But deprive a growing brain of the opportunity to learn, and the young mind will be crippled when it has passed the development stage.

But aside from having the brains to boot, what makes a child excel is a willingness to slog at his chosen field. Children who can put in hours of practice or play in something they interested without any waning of attention are sure signs that this is something they can be brilliant at. It is up to us parents to recognise this and find a way to develop this.

It is no wonder than that children who are born into wealthy or better off families, tend on average to perform better – as a lot of the above skill sets needed for a child to develop effectively are more evident in that family’s day to day routine, and hence will ‘rub’ off onto the child. A simple case of the environment the child is in will impact his or her development.

In the UK, 7% of children attend paid private or independent schools, 93% attend state sponsored schools. Independent schools have smaller class sizes, tend to provide for more of a child’s needs, and usually tend to get through more school and homework, including extra curricular activities. When you look at successful businesses and companies in the UK, you find around 50% are run by individuals from this 7% group. This is an astonishing statistic – the reason for this is straight forward – independent schools tend to provide more comprehensive ‘training’, encouragement and discipline on necessary skill sets that a child needs to be brilliant. This is what parents realise and are willing to pay for.

Schooling should be thought of as a “training programme or course for life” as opposed to an education to get a job.

After all, we do want our children to do well, if not better then us parents – this is parents’ desire, pride and legacy. This allows us to progress through successive generations as a family, a community and a society.

At mybrilliantkidz.com we have researched and put together the best information, tools, resources and products at your disposal. Please see the section on quick tips, for a sample of some of the common sense and practical things you can try. If you find these useful, please register for the free newsletter and visit the community forum on the mybrilliantkidz.com site.