#Thread
#ChildDevelopment
#India

This is a thread about most interesting question about children (from parent's point of view) - How to spot talent in a child as early as possible.

Read on (quit here if you are looking for ways to make champion of your child no matter what.)

Most parents believe (quite wrongly) that spotting talent early will help you "develop" that skill into a fantastic vocational opportunity and subsequent glory.

Most important question to ask is - Is it possible to spot talent early on?

Answer is - Depends!

Depends on which talent you are looking for.

Let me elaborate.

If you are looking for leadership qualities of extraordinary level like political leadership, CEO of major Corp like skills then it is almost guaranteed that these skills will be undetectable till adulthood.

So what is possible ?
Some broad guidelines -
0-6 years - mathematical abilities, physical (sports, dance) abilities and public performance abilities can be seen by beginning of school.

Ease of learning newer skills in these areas is visible by std 1-2.

Interest in music and some talent becomes visible by this age.

Though one MUST remember that such early signs are no guarantee of lifelong pursuit.

Skills in language and memory driven subjects like social / environmental sciences show up in late primary school. Sports and music interests start sharpening.

Some exceptionally gifted children start demonstrating self learning and "connecting the dots" at this stage.

This is pretty much all that you are going to see till 10-12 years of age.

Ability of a child to crack code of indian school exams and score 90%+ marks is not a reliable sign of anything other than academic success in middle school.

If the child is not playing a sport at competitive level by 8-9 std., it is not going to go much further at least in India. A child "seriously interested" in football or cricket but never making it to school team is unlikely to have physical sporting talent.

Coaches of sports, music, dance are actually very good at spotting talent but Indian parents usually don't hold them in high esteem due to coach's lack of academic achievements and verbal-linguistic skills.

The qualities to really look for are - initiative, self learning, curiosity and frustration tolerance.

Social skill is excellent ability that takes one places no matter which field is chosen.

Ability in language is a strange beast. Contrary to popular belief there are actually multiple and sometimes non overlapping categories here -
Language learning ability
Literary ability
Verbal descriptive language ability
Language teaching ability

Literature appreciation ability

These are all different in their own right.

None of these are really valued or nurtured in Indian school system. So children with these interests really suffer badly in our schools.

Ability to learn, improve a skill, self management (emotional) , social skills and systemic thinking abilities are most valued and en cashable abilities in modern world.

Almost none of them are apparent in school, even in grad school hence surprise successes appear at reunions.

So bottom line is child's interest, self learning ability, persistence and willingness to let other things go, points to innate ability and possibly a talent.

NO psychometry test can tell you this.

This should be obvious to common sense of a loving, observant parent.

"Is that ability encashable?" is your question as parent.

Do you really believe that such future predictions about job and market are really possible? If you or anyone has that ability, you should be a billionaire by now anyway.

Good luck with parenting.
Good parent is interested but not obsessively invested in child.

Look after your health and retirement so that kids get freedom of late start.

#JaiHind