Child Genius

aileth

Did anyone catch the final one? Very happy with the winner, much deserved.

Did anyone else find Connor's mother completely obnoxious? I have to say surely there must have been some rules against cheating when she wrote his whole debate for him.... That can't be right at all!

She only seemed to be in it for herself for bragging rights and really made me squirm the episode before last when she had kept him up so late studying that he burst into tears from tiredness.

tyllwyd

Well, in my household we were happy with the winner - she seemed like a nice girl, very bright, and she looked confident all the way through the competition, it seemed to be designed to her strengths.

We still weren't convinced by the idea of the competition though. It seemed to test mental maths and memory skills, and not much else. It would have been very interesting to see the children presented with a task or a puzzle that they (and their parents) hadn't seen before - they were so heavily coached that it was impossible to see what the children themselves could do.

aileth

tyllwyd wrote: »

Well, in my household we were happy with the winner - she seemed like a nice girl, very bright, and she looked confident all the way through the competition, it seemed to be designed to her strengths.

We still weren't convinced by the idea of the competition though. It seemed to test mental maths and memory skills, and not much else. It would have been very interesting to see the children presented with a task or a puzzle that they (and their parents) hadn't seen before - they were so heavily coached that it was impossible to see what the children themselves could do.

I think the main thing about the winner is her parents haven't pushed her or anything. All they've done is supported her, aka by moving to find a school that could help her flourish. I think that speaks volumes really, that the winner was pure natural ability and a pure natural desire to nourish her intellect rather than a pushy parent.

gildius

I agree - I thought the winner was well deserved
And I was also delighted that Connor's mum didn't get what she wanted. EVERY TIME she was like "No, really, it doesn't matter if he wins. But it does." Really wound me up!

Alpha58

raq wrote: »

the only thing I will say is, my 3 children may not be a "child genuis" but they are well mannered and are very happy children....

And isn't this the most important thing of all? I can identify strongly with some of the earlier posts - I had a bloody miserable childhood, failed totally at school and spent a long time in dead-end work before things started to improve. I have two degrees and a very good career now but I was years behind my peers in many ways, so perhaps rounded and socially able children should be the role model, not being on the "G&T" list?

Toto

I was willing her to win very deserving winner, and I loved her parents attitude too. They seemed like a lovely family who really cared for their children's emotional welfare as well as their educational achievements.

Connor's mother on the other hand was a totally different story, that poor kid needed to be a kid once in a while.

Lunar_Eclipse

Alpha58 wrote: »

And isn't this the most important thing of all? I can identify strongly with some of the earlier posts - I had a bloody miserable childhood, failed totally at school and spent a long time in dead-end work before things started to improve. I have two degrees and a very good career now but I was years behind my peers in many ways, so perhaps rounded and socially able children should be the role model, not being on the "G&T" list?

Agree, but many are both. I know lots of children with IQ's in the 130-140 range who are very rounded and socially able. In fact, my experience of children in this range is they are described as being "all rounded", so polite and mature, academically ahead and often excelling in sport, music, art and drama.

It's people with exceptionally high IQ's (>150?) who are then sometimes "too bright" to function normally.

I have one child in the >140 range and she is happy, popular amongst peers and enjoying a wide variety of extra-curricular activities both outside and inside school. Teachers find her delightful, mainly because of her balanced personality and attributes, not because she is 'G&T'. She is not disruptive in class or particularly loud in character, like some of the children on this show! And yes, it's natural, unpushed ability.