Self-Devpt. Nuggets™

Did you know? There IS a genius in your child. This article explains what you must do to AVOID stifling it…so s/he can MANIFEST that inborn genius, which can make society a better place for all of us!

Kids Are Often Fearless and Uninhibited

As I’m yet to conclude arrangements to bring my family to join me, I often find myself thinking of my kids when I see children their age, here in Cotonou.

What always strikes me about kids is their seeming inability to understand they have limitations.

Once convinced about something they basically set out to do it, without even considering possible dangers. They are much less inhibited by fears and worries than adults are.

And that state of mind is one that I consider quite powerful, as it can be deliberately nurtured to make any child manifest the genius s/he has within.

Which brings me to an important point I always want to emphasise when discussing this subject…

Everyone Has a Genius in Him/Her – Including YOU, and YOUR Child

If that is so, how come so many people never do anything exceptional with themselves right into their old age?

The answer is that we are taught to be afraid to nurture and manifest our inborn genius. That which makes us special, different, unique or one of a kind.

Who teaches us to do such a harmful thing to ourselves?

It’s society – as represented by the adults we meet in it when we are born and being raised. The result it that we grow up almost completely disconnected from our geniuses.

Indeed, we are afraid to even look inside of ourselves to discover what we SENSE that we are truly capable of becoming.

We live everyday in almost mortal fear, of being found to think or feel differently from others whose approval we seek!

And even though many times we may feel unhappy, dissatisfied or unfulfilled living that way, we prefer to NOT do anything differently.

Again it’s the fear that controls us.

Yet, as kids, we were also mostly “fearless and without inhibitions”…like kids today are.

Think about it: Until a child has been hurt by putting his/her hand in the open flame, s/he will often pay little attention to warnings against going near fire.

We have seen this happen again and again. New born children pass through the same basic process of experiential learning.

Apparently,even though you and I have learnt to be controlled by our fears and worries, we have NO WAY of passing them to our unborn children!

That’s the only explanation for the fact that newborn kids – worldwide – arrive without them isn’t it?

Wow, that means fear, worry, insecurity and similar saboteurs, that keep us from making the most of ourselves are NOT genetic!

They cannot be transferred via our DNA to our kids!!

That’s why a spineless weakling of a man, can father a child that grows into a fearless warrior.

It goes without saying, that the example of Okonkwo the great warrior, and his father, described in Chinua Achebe’s book, was fictional.

The truth is however that many real life examples, matching the description of Okonkwo’s “weak” father abound in history.

This confirms that every human being is indeed unique. And even with limitations genetic inheritance impose, you CAN do more than your ancestors did!

The key is to explore, discover and embrace your inborn genius.

But What Exactly Will Your Genius Look Like?

In my experience, it will be anything you find that you have a passion for, and/or a deeply enduring interest in.

Something that you will never have difficulty devoting endless hours of effort and attention towards developing mastery.

The best part is just like you have it, and need to find it, so does your child.

It is, of course, possible you may not wish to exert yourself so much, or you feel it’s already too late for you (which it never is!).

In that case, I urge you to at least bear in mind, that your child’s genius is most likely fighting, right now, to show itself.

And it is quite possible that s/he is already giving you subtle signs and signals of the above.

When last did you sit down, and quietly observe any of your kids at play around the house?

What did/do you notice seems to be the child’s major preoccupation most times?

What kinds of requests does s/he typically make of you – if any?

My 10 year old Son Began Giving “Signals”, That I Began Noticing, When He Was About Eight

His passion?

Fiddling with and fixing things – especially electrical stuff.

Initially I just thought it was a passing fancy or temporary obsession.

Then we noticed he began finding and keeping tools like screw drivers, and lots of damaged electrical components, parts of mobile phones/other devices (e.g rechargeable lamps, mobile phones and chargers etc).

He soon had a box filled with them.

Each day, after school he’d sit alone fiddling with his collections.

One day, my wife complained that a plug for a device was not working. Our young genuius-in-the-making overheard her, and quickly came running saying “Wait, let me see!”

The mother handed the plug to him. In a flash he went to his box of parts and soon had the plug opened.

Then about 2 minutes or so later he returned with the plug saying “A wire was loose. I’ve fixed it back. Try now, it should work.”

And he said it with a look of supreme confidence. I was mersmerized!

Sure enough, when his mother plugged the device and pressed the switch, it worked!

Since then, I’ve done all in my power to encourage him to continue.

And that includes buying him a complete electrical toolkit as a Christmas present last December (2013).

I intend to have him attend a hands-on training session with a neighbourhood electrical specialist, who started by self-tutoring. And we’ve already decided he will attend a technical college. It’s only logical.

All of this has boosted his interest and confidence.

And he’s already using some of his tools to fix things around the house!

No one needs to push him to work on these aspects. He is naturally motivated by the passion he has.

This is why I have no doubt that he will make the most of himself this way.

I urge you to do the same for your child, so his/her genius can emerge – to the benefit of himself, the family and society at large!