How to Raise a Genius: 10 Tips

From renowned scientists to respected college professors, every smart person on this planet had full support from their parents in early childhood. The exact form of this support varies from teaching them how to tell jokes to pay for piano lessons. If you wish your kid to grow up as a genius, here are 10 tips on how to help them excel in life.

Telling a good joke

Don’t you just hate it when a friend of yours tells or shares a really lame joke? Well, there is a good reason for your disappointment, as having a good sense of humor is a sign of intelligence. By teaching your child early on which jokes to laugh at and which jokes are the funniest, you are helping them develop their brain to come up with intelligent jokes.

Sleep is essential or brain development

You probably know that 8 hours of sleep per day is mandatory for adults. You have probably slept shorter than this when you went to college or when you had a lot of work to do. As an adult, you are perfectly fit to handle sleep debt but children need every hour of sleep.

Children’s brains are in their formative years, so they need more sleep than adults. Just remember when your kid was a baby, he/she slept during the day as well. Raising a genius means that lights need to go out at 9 PM every night (or another time you agree on with your spouse).

Self-discipline is the key to success

The tests can show any IQ level they want, your child won’t get far in life without self-discipline. They need to learn from an early age that perseverance is the key to success, or as Thomas Edison was attributed with saying “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

Success in life and science comes after years of diligently pursuing your goals. By setting small goals for your kid, you are teaching them to persevere and never give up, regardless of how hard things might get. Once they master the skill of not giving up, they will go from strength to strength.

Introduce your children to brainiacs

One of the best ways to learn is by example. We assume you are not a rocket scientist but you can probably get in touch with one. Joking set aside, you should actively seek to introduce your children to scientists and artists from their area of interest.

Meeting their hero will be a dream come true and they will get ask them questions and experience firsthand how a genius lives. As an alternative, you can buy them interactive books to get them interested in the lives of famous people, such as Albert Einstein or Stephen Hawking.

Childcare is no play

When both parents are employed and work all day, someone needs to look after the child. A deep bow to all grandmas and grandpas out there but children need to be stimulated to learn, play, and discover the world around them all day long. In this sense, an early learning childcare centre is perfect for preparing your kid for a lifetime of learning and growth. In addition, these centres are places where children interact with their peers, picking up important social skills at a relatively young age.

Support their hobbies

Some children like football, while others prefer to collect postcards. Whatever gets your child going, you need to support it. The hobby doesn’t necessarily have to be connected with brain food but they learn to be motivated and creative. The secret behind success is to make children love what they do and you achieve this by supporting them in their seemingly childish endeavors.

Puzzles and toys

The next time you visit a toy shop don’t just buy the first doll or toy car you like. Ask the shop assistant if they have learning toys that are designed with creating a genius in mind. From puzzles to LEGOs, there are thousands of toys for children of all ages that help them develop their motoric skills, as well as grey cells. The toys that help children learn the most are usually designed in a way they present an enigma or challenge kids have to solve or overcome.

Musical therapy

You have probably heard of the health benefits musical therapy has for adults. However, children can benefit from guitar or piano lessons as well. Playing music is not as simple as it may appear at first, as you first have to learn the notes and how to properly time each accord.

This is a real challenge for a child’s brain, pushing it into intellectual fifth gear. Whichever instrument your kids want to play, pay for those music classes, even if it turns out in the end that they are utterly talentless.

Small rewards

Innate motivation is great but few people (and children) possess it. Luckily, you can motive you’re your children from infancy by giving them small rewards for all sorts of accomplishments. As they are eating their favorite candy bar, they will realize that studying is definitely worth the effort.

Just be careful with rewards, as they a double-edged sword that can place unnecessary stress on young children to excel. You want to stimulate their diligence; not exploit or expose your children to stress!

The world of fantasy

The reality we live in can be dull and uneventful at times. On the other side, the magical world of books and movies has the right dose of intrigue to get your kids interested. Imagination goes hand in hand with intelligence since a genius had to have a broad knowledge of the world. Include fantasy novels in your child’s bedtime reading and take them to see movies such as The Lord of the Rings or The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Raising a genius isn’t easy but it isn’t hard either. Essentially, you will need to invest in the right stimuli to get your child interested in science. Once they grow up, you’ll be proud of what became of your boy/girl.