3 year old member of Mensa.

[Toddlerteaplease]

Article in todays Times, (don't know how to link)
AIBU to think this is ridiculous, let him be a toddler, nurture his interests of course. But this is OTT, and asking for trouble. Apparently he wants to go to university and be a doctor.

it is very helpful to ensure your child receives the additional help they need at school/you are taken seriously. And it’s a very good support network of other parents and advice/professional advice.

@Legrandetraitor It’s a fact that hyperlexia tends to correlate with autism, and as a parent of an autistic child who taught himself to read, what exactly is wrong with being autistic?

While I agree that people who are saying the parents are pushy or the child will struggle later are being mean spirited- I find it a completely neutral observation that children like this do tend to be autistic, and nothing stops autistic children from being happy and content, nor does it take away from their achievements.

I just don’t see why people need to speculate on it!

I don't think it's being dickish to suggest going to the media about this was at best naïve.

I do agree that it's frustrating to see the automatic assumption that anyone very bright must also be autistic. Correct that a parent ought to be alert to the possibility but it is possible to be very bright and not autistic.

who says he isn’t!?

you sound very bitter

@Ncgirlseriously they won't necessarily be autistic though. And that's an important distinction.

@Tenuouslink I'm not bitter at all. I have nothing to be bitter about.

Yeah I’m not buying it.

There is no indication this child isn’t also being able to live a normal toddler existence, he just also happens to be incredibly bright

Toddlerteaplease · Yesterday 17:45
Because he needs to be allowed to be a 3 year old child“

He is, he’s being the 3 year old child he is which is presumably different to the 3 year old child yours is.

Cant get worked up about other parents facilitating their own child’s particular interests.

He's local to me, parents are not pushy and he's getting a well rounded childhood. My dd could read at 3 too, self taught, she's autistic

@Legrandetraitor

why can’t people just be nice? Why does everyone have to be competitive or envious? I totally don’t think the family should have gone to the media but why do people here have to be such dicks about a child.

Literally no one is being a dick about a child. A few people have questioned the validity of Mensa and a lot of people have suggested that its nuts to put a three year old child up in front of the media as some budding genius. And I stand by this to be honest. The parents have been incredibly reckless and selfish for doing this.

In no way is this a reflection of any negative views on the kid. I think he's a lamb to the slaughter of his parents' vanity and I feel deeply sorry for him and hope someone out there has his back.

No indication?

The fact that his parents have chosen to publicise this in the national media is a very strong indicator indeed that they are pushy parents who are highly invested in their child being special. I'd be surprised if he was being encouraged to live a normal toddler life.

This. They seemed thrilled. I would be very worried.

In no way is this a reflection of any negative views on the kid. I think he's a lamb to the slaughter of his parents' vanity and I feel deeply sorry for him and hope someone out there has his back.

I agree. I hope he has someone in his life who is more down to earth about the realities of life as a very bright child, and who isn't invested in the status of it.

Well, they’re not “so different” are they? MENSA is for top 2%, so one in 50. Or one kid in two standard school classes. Even if he’s in the top half percent, on in two hundred, IQ is a continuum, with most in the middle, so statistically there will be numerically more kids within 10 IQ points below him than within 10 points above him.

At one time MENSA used to actively discourage applications from children.

I wouldn’t think the publicity is great for him, it will set up expectations both good and bad.

IQ is no guarantee of achievement in life, more important is an ability to persuade people and a driving urge in a single direction. High IQ without these two can lead to a feeling of failure, that even if you are earning a good living and bringing up a happy and capable family, that you haven’t achieved the earth shattering changes that someone of your IQ “should” have done.

Are you okay? Seems quite wild to try and undermine the achievement of a 3 year old for no real reason.

Also plenty of parents are approached by the media for various things, I'm sure if it wasn't for achieving something fairly unique people wouldn't be as critical of the parents. But hey, not bitter are you ;) there's no indication that they pushed him through this and then approached the media selling their story.

Plenty of people are approached. But sensible parents would say no. That's part of parenting, surely? Protecting your child when they are too young to know what's best for themselves.

Nobody could possibly think that it's in the best interests of a 3yo child to be featured in the media for this, surely?

There are so many examples of young 'prodigies' who were pushed into the media spotlight at a young age to satisfy the vanity of their parents. We all know that it doesn't usually end well.

What about it though do you find troubling? Obviously there's something in particular about 'this' news you feel is different from other parents who allow their children to be in the papers, what is it?

No, I pretty much always object to parents choosing to promote their children in the media.

I guess the exception would be children fundraising for something (a disability or illness), or where the child is old enough to have had input into the devision themselves.

I agree @AreOttersJustWetCats I cannot see any benefit to the child from this media attention. At best it was incredibly naive of the parents to agree to it.

Most people who move in intelligent circles know full well that mensa membership isn't something to get excited about.

And most people who have any knowledge of how the media operate would do their best to keep their children out of the spotlight

They do sound bitter, clueless and very judgemental. Some people just aren’t happy with their own lives.

There are loads of stories like this in the media. Most of them drop out of sight within a matter of days and are never thought of again. It's not an automatic mathway to Ruth Lawrence levels of exposure.

ha! great typo there. Pathway, of course.