To think my friend's toddler is a genius

[flowerpowerr]

I went to visit a friend yesterday. I was shocked and impressed to hear her 26 month old DD already counting to 20 and identifying different colours! Is that normal at such an early age or is the child a genius? My friend and her DH are both bright.

I think that’s fairly normal for a two year old?

Yes, it’s normal.

Yeah normal. Sorry to be 'that' person but DS is 23mo and already does this. So does at least one of his other friends that I can think of. They all even out in the end!

Haven’t you ever met a two year old before?

Can only compare to my DD and friend but 20 at that is fairly bright. Does she understand the numbers or is she just reciting them? I don’t think it makes her a genius.

It’s within the range of normal. She may well end up at university sat next to someone who didn’t start talking in sentences until nearly 2. Neurodevelopment is a funny old thing. She’ll probably be clever - maybe she will be a genius - but so might someone who’s currently still confusing green and red...

‘Asking for a friend’

Def fairly normal. Mine was the same and also reading some words and doing sums (she is autistic though so it’s linked with that)

I dont have a clue when it comes to kids but I met a 2.5 year old the other day and she was talking about jetties (like a water jetty) and I was thinking "why, I'm in the company of a mini Einstein!".

Maybe it's normal but..water jetties?! Heh

Kids brains are amazing at that age. I used to sing my daughter a Norwegian lullaby (she had no other experience of the language). After I had sung it to her about half a dozen times over the course of a week or so, I was shocked to hear her sing it back to me, word perfect, a short while later. It's a fairly long and complicated song. Anyhow, I was convinced that she must have some kind of exceptional brain / ear for languages. She doesn't even remember that I used to sing her the song now, let alone any of the words, and is fairly average at school. Ah well.

Normal I would say. My niece is 22 months and can count to 20 and knows colours and shapes. I can't remember what my own dc could do at that age because it doesn't actually matter.

My daughter has been doing this since she was less than 18 months. Sorry OP not bragging but as above it is normal. It's also lovely though and amazing in equal measure to think such a young little person can do so much! so continue to think their toddler is a genius because it's a lovely thing to think!

That barely makes the child average.

Both of mine were doing that (they also both knew the alphabet and shapes). They also have a bit of a speech delay.

Jetties :D it could be normal, all depends on what language the parents are using with their toddler. My 2 year old comes out with all kinds of whacky adult words because apparently when I speak English, my professional vocab comes out. She not stupid but neither do I think she's Einstein.

Honestly though OP, at 2 it's difficult to tell if a child will be super smart or normal. Kid ability often levels out after a few years of school. Just encourage the child and say 'wow you work hard to learn all these things!' and be the best supportive family friend you can be.

Dd1 could do this well before 2 and she is bright but no genius. Dd2 is nearly 4 and can’t count to 20 yet.

Counting to 20 is not understanding number in any way. It is memorising a list of word in the correct order. This all sounds very normal.

Definitely normal

Normal. A child who doesn't do that is not ABnormal though, they're all different.

Yes it’s fairly normal. I had one scarily bright toddler (I didn’t realise how bright he was as he was my first). By 2.5 he could add and subtract up to 10. He was reading by 3. He’s still v v bright but his classmates have caught up somewhat. He was also pathologically shy as a toddler and struggled in social situations.

I have a second toddler who was well within the normal range and in fact because of issues surrounding his birth and a small brain injury under consultant care in case he had developmental delays. He’s 2.7 and bang on average for his age. He can count up to 20 (recognises the numerals up to 10) and did know his colours by the time he was 2. He certainly can’t add and subtract and nor is he anywhere close to reading. He can however tell you the names of all the dinosaurs that roamed this earth.

@Areyoufree now I need to know which lullaby :D I used to do Trollmors vuggevise but my current fave is the lullaby from hakkebakkeskogen. Such a pretty and simple little ditty!

@Horehound kids that age tend to get obsessive about rather strange things sometimes. One of mine was an expert on graveyards at that age. He’s still very morbid 🤷‍♀️

I know an 18 month old who can name 3 colours and talk in full sentences. Don't think she can count yet. Kids pick different things up at different ages. It doesn't really mean much as long as they're showing signs of development and aren't being neglected. They all catch up to some baseline level at some point.

DS1 was outrageously clever as a baby: at 23 months he was asking me full sentence questions about how the world worked. It was fascinating to be able to communicate enough to be able to get inside a baby’s head: for instance he thought that the trees waved around themselves, and that’s what made the wind blow.

He also picked up on letters and reading himself: when he was two and a half he picked up some magnetic letters I’d left lying around and spelt out his name on the fridge. No one had ever shown him, he’d just seen it around. I had a proper hairs on the back of the neck standing up, freaked out moment until I realised it was him who had done it.

However DS was also super lazy, cruised through primary and high school, got distinctly mediocre A levels, a decent degree at a very average Russell group, and basically did not fulfil his early potential at all.