Child Genius (C4)

[TheFirstOfHerName]

Anyone planning to watch this?

I was a little like these children; joined Mensa as a child, but used my ability to coast through school/university rather than to achieve anything noteworthy.

DS2 is also of this ilk. We are not doing any of the things these parents are doing, although when opportunities arise through school then obviously we let him participate.

Pictures. Eleanor is the female equivalent of DS1. DS1 gave us a lecture on coins when DH asked him about commemorative 50ps, tonight. DS1 has ASD/ADHD!

She does actually remind me of me a bit, at 11. But she's way more brilliant.

What got my goat in the last programme was the way that Shoshana said, in all seriousness, something along the lines of "I can't understand how people without our level of professional knowledge can possibly parent properly"

Well I, and many others, managed just fine and didn't put their children through spurious regimes to produce what? Getting through 2 days of a stupid competition that proves absolutely nothing.

Is there a reason they make them wear great big name tags around their neck...it just looks so horrible

Lesley did you hear the bit this evening where she said most parents 'parent poorly'? There was a bit just before that line that was equally rage inducing but i cant remember what it was.

My dd is in the process of being diagnosed with aspergers ouryve.

Oh yes it was something along the lines of the idea that parenting is intuitive is bullshit and most parents do it poorly. Quite honestly if she cant work out how other people parent without all the techniques she uses then she hasnt the wit she was born with. I can accept that parenting might not have come intuitively for her due to her own childhood and lack of parenting role model but to state that is the case for the entire parent population?

In the first, episode, that's how long Sasha said they were working her for, after leaving school at 3:45.

Are you going to answer my earlier question Picturesinthefirelight ?

Poor child. Just let her be. Let her chill after school and watch rocket's island and guzzle a pot of ambrosia custard

I hope you can get something useful out of the process, pictures. We now have DS1 in a specialist school. He finally enjoys, rather than dreads, school!

DiaDuit yes I heard that bit and I thought, "No, lady, bullshit is what you're talking!"

I'd love to see Aliyah doing something normal like going to the cinema with a friend or watching some tripe on telly without every nanosecond of her life being planned out meticulously for her by those 2 weirdos.

In the first episode it was stated that Aliyah has an IQ of 135. That's not considered genius level. To be genius level is 140 +, when I was training it was 148. Her parents would surely know this, as psychologists. It mightn't sound like much of a difference but 5-13 IQ points is significant. She's a very smart girl in the very superior range going by her score. I had the same IQ level as her and no amount of mental training, juice and exercise regimens would have got me to 148. What it would have done is give me the tools to pass for higher functioning until testing revealed the weaknesses.

In the first episode it was stated that Aliyah has an IQ of 135. That's not considered genius level. To be genius level is 140 +, when I was training it was 148. Her parents would surely know this, as psychologists. It mightn't sound like much of a difference but 5-13 IQ points is significant. She's a very smart girl in the very superior range going by her score. I had the same IQ level as her and no amount of mental training, juice and exercise regimens would have got me to 148. What it would have done is give me the tools to pass for higher functioning until testing revealed the weaknesses.

In the first episode it was stated that Aliyah has an IQ of 135. That's not considered genius level. To be genius level is 140 +, when I was training it was 148. Her parents would surely know this, as psychologists. It mightn't sound like much of a difference but 5-13 IQ points is significant. She's a very smart girl in the very superior range going by her score. I had the same IQ level as her and no amount of mental training, juice and exercise regimens would have got me to 148. What it would have done is give me the tools to pass for higher functioning until testing revealed the weaknesses.

Crikey as you can see it also means I can't press the submit button just once either. Proof if it was ever needed...

microcosmia her parents might be using quite a broad definition of 'psychologists'. Her mother has a PhD in psychology, but a quick look at her webpage reveals a more alternative approach.

Does anybody know why the organisers:

a) allow 8 yos to compete against 12 yos? Why aren't they told to come back and compete when they are a little older?

b) Don't ask them all the same questions for every round? It seems unfair to be set different questions when some do seem a little easier than others?

I thought the questions in the logic/reasoning round were only of a few set types.

They all seemed to be asked one of those 'If Angela was twice Bertie's age three years ago...' questions, which I can never do without using simultaneous equations.

They all had an anagram question.

They all had a (bizarrely easy) number sequence.

They all had a question where they had to work out which image was the odd one out.

Then there were the traditional 'If finger is to hand then toe is to foot' ones.

There seemed to be fewer question types than my children had to do for their 11+.

I don't use simultaneous equations for those 'if Angela' questions, not formally. You can just start from the concrete number and work backwards. I think sometimes it's made too complicated in maths lessons.

I didn't understand any of the number sequence ones at all, though.

Some of the questions took much longer for the man to read out than others. That time is precious when you only have three (?) minutes. If I were coaching a child for that competition, I would tell them to start working out the answer as soon as the question appeared on the screen, and to be prepared to interrupt the man if they had the answer.

All of the number sequence questions I saw involved two alternating operations, both of which were simple, e.g.

Subtract 3
Multiply by 2
Subtract 3
Multiply by 2
and so on.

I think Hazelle had been told that (if I'm remembering rightly - her or Aliyah). She interrupted before she'd heard all three options and got it wrong, and I thought that must just be nerves and having been told to be quick.

thefirst - YY, that's how I did it.

DD and DS2 just watched this with me this morning. DD wanted to try the card memory test and has remembered 24 on her first try. I am impressed and happy she could do it. She hasn't asked to do it again and that is fine. All at her pace. She has been 2 years ahead at school for the last two years but no way would I have moved her up even if the school allowed it. She starts secondary school this year and she is very ready.