Building the Mind, Not Destroying the Inner Child: Dangers in Trying to Prove a Point
Our children. The sticky part of wanting the best for them is understanding what "best" and "them" mean.
Many children will indeed grow up to either praise or curse their parents. And parents are only sometimes able to control this result. We shiver at the thought of what our children may become and what they may think of or say about us when they grow up. We cannot always control these things. But we have one thing we can control- our views of "best" and "them." What is best for one child might be better for another. Also, when we say we want what is best for them, we usually mean what is best for us. Few things feel better than our children making us proud--and there goes the problem!
God didn't give us children only to make us proud. Parenting is often an unthankful job. No income. No time off. People constantly judge you. And this brings me to the point of this short article today. Well, short on my part. I think you should read the proffered article on the problem of prodigy.
My advice to all parents is this: we don't have to push our children to be so highly achieving that the world has to take note of it, send up balloons, and throw confetti at them. Simply grow them "in the way they shall go" (Proverbs). Parents of so-called prodigies may need to hear this message. And parents of bright children. And parents of differently-abled children. And Parents of regular children. Normal children--whatever society calls normal. Different children. Parents of these remarkable children, even when it seems they are not always wonderful (when have we always been excellent as adults?)... Don't let society cause us to push our children beyond a limit from which they might not return grounded. From which they might not be able to land squarely on earth when the limitless sky takes their heads into clouds beyond reality.
Homeschool parents, please let us not see our homes as breeding grounds for what society calls prodigies. They, for the most part, don't exist; they're highly mythical and conjectures in the minds of many well-meaning, and even some narcissistic, parents.
Einstein was not a child prodigy, though he was one as an adult. Super intelligent? Yes. But he finished high school and started university at a regular age.
Let us support our children's intellectual development, even if that means that they get to play five to ten hours for many days. Hopefully, they will get at least two to four hours of daily playtime and personal free time. Or they may need as many weekly hours of therapy as teenagers and adults.
Finally, here is the article--
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Below is a link to the homeschool mathematics book shown on this article's cover. My children contributed to and used this book when they were around five years old and eight years old--
Reference
Wargo, E. (2006, August 1). The myth of prodigy and why it matters. Association for Psychological Science - APS. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-myth-of-prodigy-and-why-it-matters