Is my 1yr old a genius?

[Thatsmoneyhoney]

Hi all.

I was just wondering if my son is gifted or if I am just extremely biased 🤣 of course everyone thinks their child is amazing!
But...
Please can you let me know your opinions if you think my son is very smart for his age.
He has just turned 22 months so almost 2.
He knows most shapes and colours. All the letters in the alphabet. Even ones at random. He won't just sing the alphabet. He is able to say each letter in the words when we read books or out on walks he'll stop and look at road signs and pick out all the letters.
He can also count to 20. For instance if he has some blueberries. He'll move them and count 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 all the way up to 20. And he also recognises numbers. So if a road sign says 30mph.. he'll shout THREE ZERO!!
He also recognises his name in letters and will shout out his name if he sees it on his lunch box or something.
Is my boy a genius??

I have 3 children but my first was a verynkate talker. He didn't talk until 3 and our 2nd child has a disability so I don't know if my 3rd son is just average for his age....

My son is slightly older and doesnt know all the numbers like that, he can only count to 4! He also doesnt know any of the alphabet!
He does however know all the animals + sounds, all different vehicles and other things etc so maybe kids just learn different things well at this age? Who knows! I also have no comparison :-)

Hi all

So my son was born with AVSD he had surgery at 10 moths old he's very bright the only problem is hes now 2 and a half and he's not walking we keep encouraging him he can stand assisted by furniture but had a melt down if we try to walk holding his hands I was wondering if there were any mummy's that have the same problem and if so do you have any tips?

Hi op

my son is also very bright he’s 23 months - 2 in a couple weeks , he knows all his colours he knows the alphabet like your son he doesn’t just sing it he can recognise all the letters if pointed out at random , can spell and recognise his name and count to 10 also knows his numbers at random not just reciting it , and speaks in 4/5 word sentences , knows all his opposites up/down hot/cold over/under big/small and so on .. I find it so fascinating :)

my nephew has just turned 3 , so at 2 he knew all species of dinosaurs , bugs and insects animals. He knew the difference between omnivore carnivore etc was also a very good talker

I think that all children show strengths in various things as toddlers and it’s lovely and you know that they are on the right track but, mostly by the time they’re in reception class they all swim in similar lanes.
Obviously some children are brighter than others academically but knowing your child is on the right path is joyous.
Also, their place in the family helps and 3rd babies often pick up things from
older siblings and that’s an advantage in some ways too.

My son was like this. Even the road signs! He's just turned 7yo now, in yr2 at school. He's pretty bright, particularly at reading where he's more than 3yrs ahead. He knows most of his timetables already which is a yr4 thing. His interests and facts (microbiology and history) do draw comments from people. But then, he's behind on his fine motor and writing so it'll all balance out. School have never made a fuss so assume all within the bounds of normal.

My son is the same and people always comment how bright he is but I have no one to compare him to so I haven’t got a clue haha

Omg I cannot with the comments 😭😭😭

I would say he's quite advanced yes, but genius is a little overboard 🤣 my twins are the same age and can do all of the same things. Theyve been able to count to 20 for months now, can sing the full alphabet song, recognise numbers and letters if they see them. One of my twins is definitely more clever, she has me in shock mouth open with some of the things she says, im like where on earth did she get that from 🤯 I think kids are just getting smarter these days, probably alot to do with technology. My 5yo was the same and she absolutely loves school, shes thriving in reception but she's also very similar to alot of the other kids. Im sure there's lots of other children his age can do the same things as him.

I think my DD2 was similar. She's now at high school and probably near the top of her class in most things (with not much effort) and clearly ahead in some, such as English. Not a genius though!

DD1 was similar at the same age. She’s 10 now and bright but not insanely so. She’s been a ‘free reader’ since Y3 and was chosen as a more able scientist to go on a trip. Physically, she’s pretty average in what she can do.

DD2 was a more active child and I would say she’s more gifted physically than DD1 was. Sat up at 4mo, crawled at 6mo and walked at 8mo. At 2, she was leaping about and able to climb with ease, etc. but she didn’t talk much. She is 3 now (4 in September) and can do all of the things you describe and has done for a long while but she’s still physically more capable. In her sports day, she sprinted ahead of her peers with ease whereas DD1 is a slow poke like me. 😂

DS is only 3.5mo but he can already sit up by himself and he babbles conversations with us. We’ll have to see which way he goes first.

I wouldn’t say your DS is exceptionally gifted but definitely doing well in his speech and language. Keep nurturing that.

He seems a little bit behind has he read War and Peace yet?

Toddlers do sometimes have a tendency to excel at some things, then these skills"even out".

How are his social skills?

My son was exactly the same at that age, he just likes learning things that make sense to him. Bright, possibly? Genius, absolutely not.

That being said he is absolutely behind emotionally and took a little longer than average socially.

You’ve obviously worked hard teaching him all this 🙂

Does he seem obsessed with numbers and letters, or just good at recognising them? Look up hypernumeracy and hyperlexia.

Wow. Am I the only one with an almost 3 yo that can’t count to 50 yet? Jeeeez this is a cringe inducing post - all the competitiveness about how bright your children are. It’s really just a bragging post. Of course you know it’s advanced but you want everyone else to know too! Proper 🙄

Mumsnet is anonymous though so it feels like you can ask things on here that you can't in real life because it would seem a total brag. When you've got a bright child it can be confusing to know if they actually are or not. I imagine especially when they are your first.

If it helps the balance then, my older child is objectively 'behind' on a few areas and diagnosed dyslexic. I find it quite hard to judge what's standard as they are so different to each other. So yes I do wish I had more reassurance whether my youngest is actually bright or what. But then I guess that IS normal right there. People are all different.

My son was exactly like this. Obsessed with letters and numbers. Could say alphabet backwards at age 2. He had no social skills really though, and no little phrases of language emerging at that age, so a little different I guess. We found out he had asd at his 2 yr check. We worked hard with him with his letters and numbers from an early age but he also had and still has a lot of interest in these areas as the predictability and order is a comfort to him.

My high-functioning ASD son was like that at that age. It always surprised me that although delayed in other areas he seemed advanced in shapes/colours/alphabet/numbers etc.

He is now 6yo and still bright (not genius level 😅) but emotionally/socially still behind.

My daughter was similar. The best was at about 2.5 years when she told me and and an entire room of relatives "the orange traffic light means go slower but mommy goes faster." I thought that was average intelligence for a kid.

Sorry, I'm now at risk of this turning into a humble brag but as my daughter has gone through school she has been top of her class at everything even stuff she hates. She despises maths but just last week she got 100% in her Mathematics assessment. So maybe it does mean your child is bright.

The flip side of that is that bright kids can be very independent and you might have a hard time getting them to accept your viewpoint. They can also become lazy if it all comes too easy to them. We made our daughter take up playing instruments so that she can experience being bad/average at something and having to work for the grades. I think it helped install some humility, resilience and a bit of a work ethic. So however bright your kid is, you still need to set challenges for them to overcome and possibly fail at. Otherwise, they are at risk of blagging through life with minimal effort until they hit their first real challenge at say 25; a challenge that risks flooring them because they've never had to cope with difficulties or failure before.

Same! Only on mumsnet. 😂

I knew my son was advanced, but never mentioned it to people because I knew they'd think I was bragging when actually I just wanted to know why I seemed to have given birth to the male Matilda!

Turns out his advanced mathematical ability was one of the earliest signs of autism. Maybe we'd have found out a bit sooner if I'd talked about it more.

He's definitely a smart boy, I wouldn't necessarily say genius though, my daughter was reading when she turned two (only short words, but she'd moved from just knowing the alphabet to blending so that she could read 3 and 4 letter words). She's now 6 and in year 1, she's above in every subject but she's not shockingly amazing (except to me obviously!!) The teachers are pleased with her, and she's ahead/"working at greater depth" across the board, but not dramatically so, she's just one of their brighter pupils along with a few other smart kids.
So I'd say see how he goes and yes he's advanced but it doesn't necessarily translate to mensa aged 6!! I'd also keep working on his communication as I think that is most important (vocabulary, wanting to share opinions, ask questions, engage with people as well as just learning facts/knowledge, because actually that's as much, if not more, of a key to success than just learning stuff)

All kids learn different skills at different ages, my son was a VERY late talker but could remove a door from it's hinges with a screwdriver at 14mo (before he could speak).