CHAPTER 3

Identifying your child’s genius

The man who achieves makes many mistakes, but he never makes the biggest mistake of all – doing nothing.

Benjamin Franklin

To unlock your child’s genius you need to work out what he or she is already good at. Building on strengths goes a lot further than remedying weaknesses.

Intelligence quotients are derived from measuring many areas of ability. The old idea that there is a general factor that predicts how clever you are has really been surpassed. Many researchers who work in this field, including David Wechsler and Howard Gardner, argue that there are different types of intelligences. Some people have a very even scatter of capacities while others have what are referred to as ‘splinter’ skills; they may be average in quite a few areas but have exceptional potential in one or two areas.

You don’t need to be good at everything

The good news about the idea of different areas of intelligence is that you don’t need to be a genius in every area. Geniuses aren’t usually all-rounders. Mozart wasn’t a great ice hockey player, Marie Curie couldn’t play cricket to save herself and Leonardo Da Vinci was a miserable table tennis partner.

To develop genius you need to know what your child is good at and amplify those strengths. To use our earlier analogy, we need to find out what is in each child’s glass and make more of it.

What we can learn from David and Goliath

Underdogs can win but they need to play to their own strengths. History is replete with examples of the non-fancied side toppling the favourite against the odds.

The trend is usually for fancied favourites to defeat underdogs. Usually the stronger team or opponent defeats the weaker opponent on 71.5 per cent of occasions according to political scientist Ivan Arreguín-Toft.

You probably recall the story of David and the much bigger and stronger Goliath. When David was preparing to go into battle with Goliath he put on a helmet, some armour and grabbed a sword. Then he decided to use his speed and accuracy rather than his strength against Goliath. David picked up his slingshot and five stones instead.

When the Goliaths of this world show up, as Goliaths inevitably do, most people don’t know how to shift their game plan and play to their strengths simply because they don’t know what their personal strengths are.

But! When the Davids of this world understand their strengths and play to them, their winning rate goes up from 28.5 per cent of the time to 63.6 per cent on the majority of occasions.

Map your child’s smarts with the pizza smarts chart

Your child’s intelligence is like a supreme pizza with different flavours on different slices. Some slices are large and bursting with ingredients while other slices have hardly any bits on them at all. This is true for most of us.

The idea that we all have different types of intelligence is not so surprising when you look at the world around us. There are dancers who you wouldn’t want running your accounts; there are bankers who should stay well away from karaoke bars.

Knowing your child’s strengths and building on them is an essential step in unlocking their genius. An easy way to begin identifying your child’s strengths is with a pizza smarts chart. The example chart on the next page shows a faint outline of a pizza divided into ten different slices, with each slice representing a different type of intelligence. The different types of smarts are:

Number smart: Working with mathematics and numbers and calculations.

Word smart: Reading, writing, spelling.

Logic smart: Thinking issues through and clearly coming to a conclusion.

Picture smart: Art, design, construction, mechanics.

Technology smart: Computers, using tools to create things, video making.

Body smart: Fitness, health, strength, healing and acting.

Nature smart: Farming, caring for animals, looking after the environment.

Music smart: Playing, creating, listening to or singing music.

People smart: Understanding others, creating friendships, resolving differences, managing, inspiring and connecting with other people.

Self smart: Perhaps the most important smart of all; knowing yourself, your likes, dislikes, your areas of strength and interests.

Draw the outline of the shape of your child’s pizza (i.e. genius). Older children and teenagers can do this for themselves.

Pizza smarts chart

In the example above, the person regards themselves as very number, word and logic smart (pizza slice filled to the edge of the line) but less smart in other areas.

Most people have never mapped their strengths. By outlining the shape of children’s pizza smarts, you are in a more powerful position to help them to learn their strengths and to build on them.

You may also want to draw a second line to indicate the areas your child enjoys.

Parents are often in the most powerful position to help their children discover their strengths and in the process enable their genius to flourish. By focusing some of your energies on exposing your child to experiences that expand existing areas of strength you build confidence and a willingness to try new things in your child.

The one thing we can reliably predict about the future is that it will change. This means that children who are equipped to take on changes rather than being intimidated by them will be the geniuses of the 21st century.

In the following chapters I discuss ways to build the skills that will unlock your child’s genius. In order to guide you, you may wish to rate their current level of competence in the following areas.

It can be useful to come back to these ratings from time to time as it will help you to see the progress your child has made as well as thinking about what strengths they can capitalise on.

Ways to identify your child’s strengths
Ages 2–4	Guide children through a variety of experiences so they can start to develop a basis of life experience to develop strengths. Broaden your child’s range of experiences. Let them play and get dirty. At each stage of life, you will need to observe, reconsider and re-learn your child’s strengths. Some fledgling strengths will flourish while others will dwindle. Don’t be concerned at this unfolding process – it is your child’s way of becoming their own unique self. Playfully follow your child’s lead. Let them explore and discover the world and themselves. The idea is to expand their experiences rather than to accelerate them.
Ages 5–7	As a parent you may start to form a few ideas about their strengths, but don’t get too prescriptive. Do map out the pizza smarts but use it as a rough progress map rather than as an indication of future areas of strength. During these years children can be like Toad of Toad Hall, taking up new interests with gusto only to be dismissive of them weeks later. Don’t be perturbed. This experimental trying-out and sifting of experiences adds to their ‘experience bank account’. Eventually you will want children to stick with things but don’t get too worried about their persistence at this stage. The emphasis should be on broadening their range of interests rather than rushing them from one class to another.
Ages 8–11	Often this is the first time parents will be able to confidently draw the pizza smarts chart; use this knowledge to build your child’s confidence and self-belief. Focus on a few main areas but still be prepared to give your child time to explore new skills and activities. Interests and passions may surge according to friendships and fashion. That’s fine, but keep looking beyond this to the activities your child keeps coming back to. Encourage them to develop a few areas they feel passionately about and give them the opportunity to develop some expertise in these areas.
Ages 12–18	The teen years can either be a time when the strengths are crystal clear to parents or when new areas of strength emerge as children mature. Complete the pizza smarts chart annually. Changing schools can be an opportunity for expansion of strength areas. Some teens need to keep their areas of passion secret from their friends. Protect and guard their privacy. Embarrassment can extinguish a passion easily at this age. The teen years are often a quest for belonging. By identifying strength areas you can help them to: find people and places that value their attributes and what they have to offer. stay away from people and places who do not value what they have to offer. Encourage volunteering experiences. Work placements and part-time jobs are good ways to build on an interest. For teens who find it difficult to see their own strengths, it may be useful to consider adding to the pizza smarts, by mapping strengths, career testing or intelligence testing.