How do I Raise My Child’s High IQ?
How do I Improve My Child’s High IQ? Raising children to have a higher intelligence quotient could prove to be both a nostalgic feeling and a challenge as well. In most cases, parents of children gifted with high IQ levels tend to feel frustration over their children’s well-being.
This is most especially if they feel like they have limited options on how to nurture their children’s gifts.
They may even get to the point of feeling unable to provide proper support while their children grow. Products and programs have been made available to boost the intelligence of children with high IQ but these do not generally ensure child success. This still remains a case to case basis for children with high IQs have insatiable minds.
It is therefore important to take note of how to properly raise a child’s already high IQ. While choosing the right school–or even opting to do homeschooling–is a key step in nurturing the child, there are other things still to be taken into consideration. One wrong move and it could definitely jeopardize the potential of the child.
Overcome Bullying of High IQ and Talented Children
Though these children have high IQ levels, they are still prone to some issues that their intelligence could not easily solve. Their self-esteem becomes a top issue. If left in a regular school setting, they may be targets of isolation and bullying. Because they appear to be mature or advanced than the rest of the class, other kids may find it hard to connect with them.
The gifted child may feel the gap between what common characteristics or interests he or she has that are the same with others. As a result, the child may feel lonely thus affecting his or her self-esteem. It will be effective if the gifted child is grouped with like-minded individuals who are on the same level as his/her to promote good socialization.
How Parents Can Help Gifted Children
If the parents get frustrated, the gifted child experiences the same too. Because they recognize that they are “ahead” than the rest, they set higher standards and expectations for themselves. Accepting failures and setbacks become difficult to accept. This affects the way they view achievements.
They have this uncontrollable desire to always be on top or to perform their best. Not only that they have harder control over their expectations, but they also tend to have independence issues. This happens when they get too confident that they could handle anything just because they know they are gifted with high IQ and could figure things out on their own most of the time. They often feel devastated when they are met with failures.
3 Tips To Help High IQ and Talented Children
- Teach them to be confident yet humble
- Parents should support children in developing social skills
- Teach children how to overcome failure and setbacks
It is important to keep in mind that having a child with a high IQ requires mindfulness. If the child has no self-discipline, success could not be ensured. It is imperative that we instill willpower and confidence to these high IQ children. Having the right mindset will definitely make coping and succeeding easier for learning is an active process and it may be emotionally taxing for the children. Learning how to handle their emotions and responses to situations empower them to become on top of their game. Listed below are some tips on how to raise a child with a high IQ level. Surprisingly, most of these are backed up by science.
Gifted Children Must Always Have Rest Recovery and Renewal
The so-called “working memory” is the one responsible for nurturing trains of thought. Enhancing this is critical for this helps us process information, stay focused, and think critically.
This has a direct effect on how a person performs–academically or not. Improving this mechanism will greatly benefit an already gifted child. It will do a gifted child well if the parent continues to tease the brain of the child through stimulating and challenging intellectual activities. There must be a seamless boundary as to when and how these activities are set though.
The parent should remember that learning is an active process and does not select a proper time or location. Every waking hour now becomes a learning opportunity. While the parents offer continuous stimulation, they must remember not to overburden the child.
Dealing with Intellectual Challenges
Intellectual challenges range from activities that improve verbal and linguistics intelligence or even spatial or logical bits of intelligence. Giving the children books to read proves to be greatly helpful in stimulating their verbal skills. But some studies suggest that reading with the child is better than merely giving materials to the child for reading. Board games and manipulatives, on the other hand, improve spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Some research supports the claim that a healthy body affects the child’s intelligence. Video games are proven to sharpen spatial intelligence and working memory. Combine a variety of these activities and the child’s working memory would be guaranteed to work perfectly.
Skills To Raise IQ
Another skill that will be put to the test is their ability to process real priorities. Their minds may wander around many ideas all at once. They may get excited to learn new things or to do adventures, but they should learn how to prioritize and schedule. This will help clear their mind and therefore help knowledge to be processed properly. In moments of being critical of themselves, they should know when to let go of things. This will help them maintain a healthy mindset while growing intellectually and emotionally.
Parents must also make sure that their child’s social skills are calibrated. These children recognize their gift and they mostly do not appreciate being overprotected by their parents. Allowing them to also be street-smart is a good skill they can earn. Let them explore their surroundings and make connections on their own while making them feel that they are trusted to make wise decisions. The parents’ role shifts to being a supporter and protector of the child in the moments of exploration.
Limit and Monitor Screen Time – Overexposure Can Cause Information Overload
Believe it or not, controlling the screen time or exposure to gadgets also have a role in ensuring our child’s IQ. While a lot of programs and shows are produced by entertainment networks made specifically for them, face to face interaction is still the best source of additional knowledge for them. This is where they establish relationships either with parents and with peers.
This way, they could learn from other people’s experiences and stories. They get to explore areas they do not seem to notice because their attention is focused on where they excel at. This process of learning could be a source of pride for them. Children with high IQ levels like learning things on their own.
Though the parent must appreciate this, they should not overpraise their children to lessen the emphasis on how advanced and well rounded they really are. Offering support is a parent’s job but standing in the middle of being too strict or too lenient is needed.
If a parent aspires to make their high IQ child feel “normal,” he or she must meet their child’s needs. The child must be given an opportunity to excel and grow without putting much weight on what makes him or her above the others.
Conclusion: How do I Improve My Child’s High IQ?
While doing all these things to keep the child growing in excellence, providing them time to rest and slow down must not be forgotten. A Harvard study that focused on the correlation of a person’s smile in photographs and their success showed that the more a person smiles in a photograph, the higher the success rate that person is most likely to achieve in the future. We must instill the value of happiness to the child so he or she maintains a happy disposition at all times. We must remember that a happy child is a successful child!