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.

She may be able to count by rote just as some children can recite the alphabet but not actually know what the numbers or letters are. Some children might know.

My daughter's SIL is a genius always has been. No common sense though. DD's DH couldn't read until 7 while DD could read at 3. Her DH gained a First in law. DD got a 2:2 missed 2:1 by 1mark because she was helping her friend put up her display and DD hadn't finished her own(lots were helping as it was huge and hung up high) and the Tutor came around an hour earlier than stated. She has lots of common sense though and lots of friends which SIL doesn't as people find her difficult.

I think DD is better off.

My eldest was speaking in sentences, counting, knew all colours by 18 months : middle child was nearer 2 before reaching the same milestones and youngest barely said a word until the age of 3!! All now have 1st class honours degrees, so as a PP said, they all even out. Enjoy each stage as they reach it - don't worry about what other people's kids are doing would be my advice.

Arf at ‘26 month old’. Two, he’s two.

@nonmerci As I’ve already explained upthread, I don’t know much about kids but even I know that the difference in mental development between a two year old and a three year old is enormous. If I’d just said she was two then that could place her anywhere from 24 months old to 35 months and 30 days old - and quite rightly I’d have had loads of posters asking me which it is.

These threads are hilarious. “I think that is bang average... Not bragging mine was naming all shapes including isosceles and equilateral triangles by 18mo”.

The child is probably pretty bright, OP. However, being able to recite numbers to twenty isn’t the same as counting. Memorisation is one thing but the actual concept is a complex one. I haven’t bothered pushing numbers or ABCs for that reason - it seems a bit of a pointless skill for a little one.

Completely normal! Although using months past 2 isn't ;)
My friends toddler knew their ABCS and how to count to 25 at 16 months - a few months shy off 4 now and reading and writing a little - that I consider bright lol.

For everyone moaning about months, I’ve just had one from the nhs using exact months past 3 so it isn’t that wierd.

I got told a secret by a mother of 4 "gifted" children who are past uni stage, all having gone to remarkable unis (she mentioned Oxford and a couple others)

Memory games. Memory, memory, memory. She said her kids aren't gifted LOL they just have good memory, were introduced to reading habits, studying habits and she didn't baby talk them she spoke to them normally.

My dc is 2 and a half and knows 36 elements of the periodic table (we haven't learnt any extra since June as we moved on to second language, will be moving on to the rest of the elements end of the month), vocab is mainly physics and sciences and she got hold of netters anatomy flashcards and rather than play head shoulders bla bla I point at various parts and we name bones, muscles and organs. Make learning fun.

If she asks me a question if I don't know the answer I Google and explain it to her. She doesn't understand, but hell, she sometimes asks a question related to my explanation and she'll remember small bits of that.

Every day activities are also educational, I ask dc to bring me x amount of pegs for example.

Reality is I'm a stay at home parent and give her my 100% which is bloody tiring. I answer all her dumb questions, all her difficult ones. I've had some down time for a month as we were on holiday but boy it's effort.

Now memorising up to 20 is what it is. Understanding the numbers is a different story op

Same as my child, she has the talk, but does she really understand what her favourite lacrimal bone is

Blimey, my DC didn’t speak properly until 3 (I think, can’t really remember anymore, now they talk too much and too loudly)

It’s lovely that you appreciate how incredible toddler brains are, @flowerpowerr and I am sure your friends really appreciated you noticing their daughter’s progress too.

My 2.5 year old knows more about animals than I do.

At the zoo recently and tells me "that is an okapi mummy"...I'm internally thinking what the fuck, is it...where's the sign. DH is obsessed with animals and has shown him encyclopaedias since he was a tiny baby. I used to take the piss but I'm actually impressed.

I was also recently corrected when watching David Attenborough...
it wasn't a tortoise "it's a sea turtle mummy"

My "26 month old" counts like this... 2, 6, 2 , 6, 2, 6....
They're his favourite numbers. I have heard him count to 5 before though. He may not be a genius but he's bloody brilliant.

Genuine question, why are months still being used when the child is 2?

but actually at 2 years 2 months it's not unheard of is it?

I think you’ve answered your own question!

For DD1 that was a long way from her capabilities at the time. DD2 could do far more at that age than your friend’s toddler. However, it definitely balances out.

My child pointed to a wooden sculpture in the park and correctly said it was a dolphin. Expect us to appear on child genius in a few years

Kids are all different and I hate to label them "genius" or "slow".

absolutely!

Some kids will appear more "advanced" because their parents will desperately try to make them appear like that. Others because they picked on something, or they are being taught at nursery. Some because they find that interesting.

Others will just left to be kids, won't bother with numbers but climb anything, ride their scooter and bike like a pro.

After a year or 2 at school max, they'll have more than caught up.

Alexel why do you want your 2 year old to know the periodic table though?

Normal to recite numbers at 2. The genius element at that age comes in when they aren’t reciting numbers but calculating them. For example my brother started counting to thirty in 1’s then in 2’s and 3’s by the same age and it took a long time to realise he wasn’t reciting but was adding the appropriate numbers. He then went on to learn how to divide / calculate fractions with cake / chocolates that he was expected to share

Very normal. I would say knowing colours at 20 months was fairly normal.

Good lord! Let these kids come to things as they want to. I know far too many lazy sixth formers who were gifted toddlers. I know this because the most repeated phrase at a sixth form parents evening is ‘She/He was so gifted as a small child. They could (insert impressive thing here).

Everyone goes at different rates. Have thing on hand for them to do but don’t hot house them so early.

DD is brilliant with colours, shapes, drawing and building. But it is what she is drawn to. I don’t sit her down and cram her full of it. She is 3 and has been drawing recognisable people with hair and eyes and arms and legs and clothes since she was just two. I cannot draw. At all. Something in her brain is just built that way.

My DS1 was like this- knew all letters, numbers etc well before two. I thought he was a genius (PFB) and at the very least would be a very early reader etc. He learned to read at around 5 nearly 6 (on the later side of normal) is now at 9 only probably a bit above average academically. My DS2 was relatively slow at toddler milestones. Now at 5 he is way ahead of his class in reading and maths and way ahead of his older brother at the same age (But I'm sure all the other kids will soon catch up with him too). So I don't think any of it means that much.

very normal!

I think that most kids are geniuses at that age, in their way! I mean, obviously not in the strict sense of the word, but I don't think most of us have that total immersion in our interests, and that ability to soak up information on one or two favourite subjects, ever again.

I think the woman who led my DD's bounce and rhyme group thought DD was a complete dunce at your friend's child's age, because she completely resisted any attempt to teach her colours and she counted in her "own" way. But, at the same age, DD named twenty-five Thomas the Tank Engine characters in a sticker book without hesitating (I knew six!). My DB could name the make of every car by looking at it at two, but wasn't interested in colours or numbers. My friend's son had below average speech but could count backwards at a ridiculous early age because he loved rockets. You get the picture!

My son was like this. When he started at school his teacher said he was was about four years ahead of where he should be. He gradually levelled off over the course of primary and high school.

My 2 year old DS can count to 20 and recognise all the digits. He can add and subtract with small numbers too.

He doesn’t have the motor skills to hold a pen but he knows the letters in his name, all the letter sounds and is beginning to read cvc words.

He was a late walker and talker and has had a rapid development recently. He isn’t a genius and I expect others will catch him up at school.

“That barely makes the child average” utter classic withering MN response... that
sounds pretty bright to me OP!