A genius is someone who dazzles us with his exceptional creative ability and originality in any field. A peek into the history of some of the world’s most famous geniuses would give us a better idea of what brought these people into the realm of genius and set them apart from the rest.
Tiger Woods is a sports genius who made world headlines by becoming the youngest Winner of the Masters Golf Tournament at age 21. (What happened recently was another story.) He started swinging a sawed golf club in his father’s garage at age 11 months. Both his mother and father recognized this early interest and decided to support him in this area.
It is said that his dad used to tell him how good he was while his mum used to drive him to all the tournaments he participated in without so much as a complaint. The motivation and support he gained from the two most important people in his life spurred his confidence and made him believe in himself so much so that he became a sports legend.
Would Woods become a household name had his parents turned a blind eye to his interests? Adults either validate the early passions of a child or kill them off. I believe that genius is NURTURED PASSION. Within the seed of each child is an interest, the seed of a passion. It is only when a child is encouraged to follow his heart that he stands a chance to realize his maximum potential. To understand how this happens, let us look at how the human brain develops.
NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
The most valuable physical legacy a child inherits from his parents is his brain. Half of the genes come from his mother and the other half from his father. Little is understood about how the foetal brain develops from conception till birth. But at birth, the brain is entirely a product of nature and has yet to reach full maturity.
Immediately after birth, nurture steps in. Every instant, the baby touches, tastes, sees, smells and hears, the brain yields plenty of cells called neurons and other brain cells, and establishes numerous connections between cells called synapses.
By age three, the brain has billions of such cells, All these cells combine to form an intricate command centre that also empowers the baby to think and adjust its behaviour and perform a myriad other activities.
Research by neuroscientists suggests that the brain processes like learning and memory are ongoing events and continue well into adulthood. The brain is perpetually at work, sensing and interpreting every bit of the environment that it encounters. This is the nurture bit that we parents and other adults have considerable control of.
By the time the child is fully grown, his brain would have become a product of the complex interplay between nature and nurture. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that geniuses are individuals whose brains have been nurtured so much that they become exceptionally good in what they do.
DEVELOP YOUR KID’S GENIUS
Before birth, a child’s universe is confined to his mother’s womb. Soon after he’s born, he discovers a totally different world full of colours and objects that had been completely alien to him till then.
Just as tourists would marvel at the sights and sounds new to them, so would a child in his new world. That’s why children are such curious creatures. They have a strong urge to touch, to explore and to ask questions.
It would seem that they have an insatiable appetite to want to know about anything and everything around them. This is because the entire world is a novelty to them and excites them to no end! They marvel at how things work. They can’t wait to dig up as much as they can.
If this natural need to discover and learn is consistently entertained by a caring adult, if their little questions are answered, they become encouraged to move on and learn about other things in their surroundings. Even the most shy kids will display their highly inquisitive nature with lots of kindness and encouragement; they will open up and start asking one question after another.
This need to know is denied if we:
- ignore them;
- are absent most of the time; or
- respond with discouraging replies like ‘Don’t’
Over time, a child whose need to know is denied again and again will have his sense of curiosity dulled. Over time, he loses interest in his surroundings and in learning. Discovery stops to fascinate him. After all, why bother when you can never get answers from anyone or risk getting a disapproving look for the sake of a question!
At times, they questions linger around things that seem obvious to us. But things that are obvious to us are not apparent to kids because the entire world is fresh to them.
The need to know carries well into adolescence, when they become curious about their bodies and the changes taking place in them. They also become more curious about the world around them. They see humans suffering from lack of food and basic amenities in other corners of the world and wonder why. Why do kids as young as five have to work for a living? Why did my classmate’s father abandon him when he was a toddler? The questions never end. Nurturing this highly curious mind develops the child’s GENIUS.
-Iluvislam.com article
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