Let us ask you one question – what is your IQ test score? You can answer honestly because nobody is going to find out. Whatever your score is, the IQ test is a rather controversial method of measuring your brilliance. It should not really come as much of a surprise that it is not just controversial but ultimately pointless thing for adults that has no scientific backup. What about the children?
The Truth About IQ Tests
Does an IQ test actually represent the level of the brain power of your intellectual capacities? Not exactly. So, if you got a disappointing result after going through a test on the Internet, there is literally nothing you should worry about because online tests are far from being reliable and they can’t be taken seriously.
The only thing that IQ tests can show is how good you are at IQ tests. It is like testing your knowledge of physics with a test on chemistry. Notwithstanding the arguments mentioned above, you can see in different sources that the greatest minds were going through intelligence testing and were getting astonishingly high results.
For example, Albert Einstein is considered to be the person with the highest IQ score in human history, and it seems pretty logical taking into consideration that he was a breathtakingly brilliant scientist and inventor. However, there is no substantial evidence that Einstein took an IQ test in the first place. Also, there is an interesting story or myth that Mr. Albert failed this test because he was too smart for it. In case you are not Albert Einstein, the team of cheap essay writers online can help you with these tortuous assignments in physics.
We are going to throw even more shocking information into your mind. Have you ever wondered how an IQ test was created? You would think that this pile of tricky questions was meant to determine people’s mental abilities, but in reality, it is one of the most biased tools that has ever been created. The first IQ test was invented in 1904 by a French teacher who wanted to check how kids were doing at the kindergarten. That is why this test has all kinds of geometric figures. It was aimed at children! If a kid was able to go through that intellectual challenge, he or she was considered to be ready for the first grade.
However, there is something more important than your children’s IQ test score and persuasive speech topics for their high school assignment.
Kinds of Intelligence You Want to Develop in Your Child
If you want to raise a smart baby, you should try to develop in your child all kinds of intelligence. So, what types of intelligence do you know? Have you checked any of them? Wait, you had no idea that there are many of them, right? Well, there are emotional, musical rhythmic, visual, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, and an intelligence quotient that all parents must be familiar with. These kinds of intelligence have been known to humanity for quite some time. Then how come it is such an obscure page of modern science? Mainly because people usually perceive those kinds of kid’s intelligence as talents in various fields of art. However, it is still one of the most interesting research topics.
Emotional Intelligence
Among all other types that we are willing to tell you about today, an emotional intelligence must be the one every parent has heard of. It consists of multiple elements and factors of the personality. And we all have it, but some people are just better at decoding emotions of others or controlling their feelings. When you see a person, who is really upset and your brain can define that emotion, then congrats, you have a more or less developed emotional intelligence. But is it even possible that people can’t figure out what is an emotional state of a person who is standing right in front of them? Yes, and it is more common than you think.
You can be extra smart in a traditional sense, but you can’t read people’s faces, and gestures and your brain will not able to translate those signals. You may be just like Sheldon Cooper from “The Big Bang Theory”! Usually, people who live in society are familiar with a basic set of human emotions. By the way, there are only four types of those, according to psychology. There are sadness, happiness, fear, and anger. All other emotions are just their derivatives or varieties. So, emotional intelligence of your kid sometimes way more important than IQ score.
Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence
What is a pitch? If only you have watched “Pitch Perfect,” it would be so much easier to explain. Most of the people have a pitch that is good enough to perform basic tasks like singing karaoke or recreating the beat from “We Will Rock You.” Seriously, try it right now. By the way, it is one of the most recognizable multicultural and transcontinental beats. If someone is playing guitar and your child can hear that it sounds off, then his or her pitch is pretty good. Pitch is not something that only singers have. Somebody may have great vocals, but a lack of pitch will ruin everything.
So, if your 12-years-old boy has bad grades but he is pretty great at beatboxing, there is nothing to be worried about! He has musical-rhythmic intelligence.
Visual Intelligence
This is actually a type of intelligence that you can test online, but still, at a particular examining center, the results would be more accurate. To pull it off, you need ziggerins. Yes, this word is spelled correctly and we did not make it up. Ziggerins are objects that you have never seen before, and this test is supposed to show how good your vision and brain work as a team in order to determine those ziggerins.
How to understand whether your child has visual intelligence or not? The test goes like this – you need to look at a bunch of random objects which have a complicated structure for a couple of seconds. Then you will be presented with another set of objects, and you are supposed to find the one that you have already seen. It is a much harder task than it seems. But if you know for sure that you are good at this, then your perfect job will include matching fingerprints, interpreting medical X-rays or keeping track of planes on radar displays.
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
Do you know those people who just can’t dance? Some of them are smart enough to admit it, and others just prefer to stay in the dark and show off their horrible dancing moves at weddings. However, this type of intelligence can’t be measured. It is very subjective, and it has way too many additional factors. Some people are good at juggling, and others do not even have a decent coordination level to walk on a curb like they do in romantic comedies. At least, there is one totally reliable and objective thing that we know about.
So, if your children are keen on sport, dance or any physical exertion, they definitely have Kinesthetic intelligence. Once we have figured out all of the most important types of intelligence, let us move on to the tips on how to develop them.
Ways to Develop Your Child’s Intelligence
Kid’s brain reaches 90% of its adult size by the time they hit kindergarten. So, you have got a window of opportunities in those early years to really help them. One more piece of statistics, nature controls about 50% of our intellectual power and our environment determines the rest.
Brain scientists essentially describe intelligence as the ability to record information and adapt this new information to unique situations. Of course, these two components are fundamentally linked to your evolutionary need to survive. And from that perspective, parents need to understand that the child’s brain is not interested in learning but in surviving. Every ability in or intellectual toolkit was engineered to escape extinction, and knowledge exists to fulfill that goal. It means that all the following brain boosters will only work if safety needs are met in the first place. So, once your kid feels completely safe, here are three great fertilizers for their brain.
Talk to Him or Her
Speak to your children as often as it is possible. The connection between words and smarts is indisputable. It is one of the most well-established findings in all the literature. Firstly, the variety and number of words matter. Secondly, talking increases the brain activities.
Children whose parents talk regularly to them knew twice as many words and performed a lot better at school than those whose parents speak to them the least. But be careful here, it takes a real-live person to benefit your baby’s brain, not a TV or iPad.
Encourage Open-ended Play
Open-ended activities are as crucial to a child’s neurons growth as protein, not electronic toys nor academic drilling. Kids who were allowed a specific type of open-ended playtime were more creative, less stressed, and better at language, memory, and problem-solving. Moreover, it is a great way to increase your child’s visual and Kinesthetic intelligence.
Of course, not any type of play will bring about those great cognitive benefits. The play needs to involve impulse control and self-regulation.
Praise Effort Instead of Accomplishment
As every experienced parent knows, a child with naturally high intelligence is not guaranteed to succeed well in school. What separates high performers from low performers? Effort and deliberate practice. How can you get that kind of effort from your children? Surprisingly, it is all about how you praise them. Because your praise defines what your child perceives success to be. So, instead of saying “You are so good,” you just need to say: “You worked hard!”
