Every parent wants their child to excel in life. They want their children to be extraordinary, a bit smarter than the others. Parents often look for early signs of intelligence in babies especially if their child is born gifted, while others nurture some qualities. As parents, they must learn how to support, encourage, nurture and make arrangements for the child to help them reach their full potential in life.
As we all know, parenting is challenging, and having a gifted child must take a lot of responsibility and attention. It can become harder to understand children’s minds when growing with lots of energy and potential.
There are so many signals that parents can notice in their babies right after they come into life. You might think about how it is possible to find the signs of a genius baby?
Well, it is possible if you notice your child a bit more closely.
9 Early Signs Of Intelligence In Babies – Identify Your Genius Early On
From the early stages of life, children start learning and adopting the environment. Some may take more time, or some may quickly evolve themselves in the surrounding.
Is my child gifted? If that is the question in your mind, let us answer it!
Here are nine signals in babies that can show the early signs of intelligence in babies.
Once you spot them in your child, you can take steps to help your child nurture them and prepare your child for his future.
1. Highly attentive
When babies are born, they usually take their time to develop a bond and identify the surrounding environment.
But some babies who have a high level of intelligence also seem to have a high level of alertness, which means such babies quickly get familiar with the environment. They recognize their mother, father, siblings’ face, touch, and voice faster than other babies.
Babies with higher intelligence levels also seem to make direct eye contact with you, like they want to say something or move things with their eyes.
They focus more on what you say to them, and they may move towards you when you call or make any sound. Do you have a very active newborn? If your little bub has advanced attention early on, there is no doubt you have an intelligent baby.
2. Loves to play alone
Small babies usually love to get attention from people they are surrounded with. They remain playful with the other babies of their age as well.
But what if your child prefers to play alone? Don’t get worried when you see them playing by themselves. Take it as a positive note that your baby can entertain himself/herself without others.
You can notice that they seem happier when they play or do their thing alone, unlike when other kids surround them. Perhaps they enjoy putting a puzzle together on their own or like to draw for a long time at a stretch.
It is one of the potential early signs of intelligence in babies. When it comes to making new friends, they prefer one or two friends only.
Also, they prefer making friends with those who are older than them. Such babies with high intelligence might turn into introverts in the future.
3. Remains highly interested
If your child keeps asking an infinite number of questions about anything under the sun, it can be due to their high curiosity level and intelligent mind to know a lot many things.
Early talkers and intelligence also seems to be linked in some way. Asking questions is another significant sign of such a great mind. Questions of children might sometimes be annoying, but parents must not ignore them and answer every possible question.
They may sometimes open or break things to see what is inside. These all are signs of having an intelligent mind and looking beyond the surface.
Sending your kids to junior libraries or kindergarten can help them know what they are looking for.
4. Doesn’t sleep much
If your baby is having a high level of energy as compared to the other babies, it might be because of their increased ability to perform activities in less sleep.
If you have an alert baby at home, you might have often observed that he remains active for more hours, and it will be tough for you to make him sleep. That’s probably because their minds remain very active and it is not easy for them to shut it off to rest and sleep. They easily get stimulated and sleep is simply not on their minds.
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5. Heavy when born
It is believed that the newborn baby’s high weight is good for both mother and child’s health. Studies show that having a heavy and hefty body during birth is one of the early signs of intelligence in babies.
This can be possible because of a proper balanced diet and nourishment given to the mother during pregnancy. If a mother remains healthy in her pre and post-pregnancy, it will directly affect the baby’s tremendous growth. That’s where all your pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and post pregnancy diet comes into play!
6. Faster growth than others
Usually, babies take their specific time to acquire milestones and need proper support to sit, stand, or even crawl. Parents teach them to speak a few words or make them sit or walk.
However, if your child is acquiring these milestones mentioned above quite earlier, don’t get surprised. For instance, early crawling and intelligence go hand in hand. If your child starts to sit up earlier than usual, say by about 3-4 months, it could be a sign that your child is gifted. This can be a stepping stone to performance in some cognitive domains.
It could be one of the reasons for having an intelligent mind. Let take an example – a baby who is only nine months old can already say mom and dad and perhaps respond to you, saying yes or no. It is because of the early high intelligence.
Related Reading: 8 Signs Your Baby Will Walk Soon!
7. Inherit parents smartness
We all know that a child gets most of the traits from their parents. So, if one parent has a high intelligence level, the baby can inherit that IQ.
The chances of having a great IQ become more when parents are smart or involved mostly in the reading or learning process.
That’s also why pregnant women are advised to read good books or watch good brain development programs as it affects the baby. If you are expecting and following this step, you will observe intelligent baby signs in the womb.
8. Languages affect in brain development
If you know more than two languages, start communicating with the baby before birth. It will help in the mind’s growth and the baby will quickly learn new things like languages or words.
Babies whose parents know different languages can directly affect the ability to perform excellently in understanding and responding further in life. It is also known that it is easier to learn multiple languages early on in life than later. So expose the child to various languages and if your bub seems to be picking them up easily, you have a smart baby for sure.
9. Likes finding solutions
As mentioned earlier, babies having high intelligence keep on asking questions about a lot many things. And when they are too young to ask, they tend to solve problems themselves. So perhaps your baby does not whine when you refuse to give him something, but figures a way how to get it on his or her own. That is smartness.
Along with other curiosity and alertness, they also like to find solutions to their problems.
For example – opening the toy to find out how it has been made or figuring out to reach the top rack to take their favourite toy or cookies. These all are early signs of intelligence in babies.
What Makes Your Baby Genius?
There is no such perfect definition for being called a genius. Some people argue that geniuses are born, not made.
In contrast, others disagree with this statement and believe that a person becomes a genius with passing time using his hard work and practical experience in the field.
We often title a person with skills as talented or God-gifted. These all are adult quotes that the world follows, but it is possible to see a particular behaviour in children that can actually show signs that they are geniuses.
Children who can respond more or learn new things faster than others can be categorized on the scale of geniuses.
Geniuses can be more creative, active, and productive towards whatever they do in their surrounding environment.
Some signals can be preferred to spot the uniqueness and smartness in your child, making them a genius in the future.
- They have an impressive memory power
- Don’t require anyone to accompany them to play
- Give a quick response to anyone’s call and stare at them intensely
- They have an excellent creative mind as compared to other children of the same age
- These kids have a curious mind, which is why they keep on asking endless questions
- They remain happy in their own company and laugh a lot while playing or talking to others
Five Ways To Support Your Gifted Child
When your child is gifted with higher ability and intellectual qualities, don’t panic by thinking that you will not be able to provide your child what they need as a gifted child. Having a child who has a high intelligence level and capability to aim high requires support from their parents in every sphere to achieve it. Parents must encourage and value their child’s areas of interest.
It’s not that tough to raise a gifted child. All you need is good understanding and creativity. However, the parents’ responsibility increases as they must need to give their gifted child support and encouragement to explore the world.
Parents must focus on their gifted child from the early stages of learning. Here are five ways through which you can support your gifted child.
1. Don’t compare your gifted child with others
It is essential not to compare any child irrespective of his intelligence. Every baby is special, and that is not just a cliché. Avoid comparison between siblings or with someone else.
If you have a gifted child, they will be usually known for their bright abilities before others of the same age. They might often question like why and what makes them different from other batch mates. They might likely compare themselves with others.
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As parents don’t lie to them, answer genuinely and make sure they understand. Similarly, don’t make your child’s comparison with other relatives or siblings as it can cause other children to feel insecure about their abilities.
2. Accept the friend circle of your child
It is quite challenging for gifted children to make friends with the same age group as they prefer to remain alone and isolated from others.
As the gifted child’s hobbies and traits don’t match with the same age children, they end up remaining isolated and continue to enjoy their own company.
So, as a parent, you must encourage them to make friends and try to enjoy others’ company. But make sure you don’t force them to do so.
Parents must understand the emotional and mental state of their gifted child. It is likely possible that they make friends with older people than themselves as they have a higher level of thinking and responding.
3. Don’t hesitate to get help if needed
In other countries, there are recommendations for giving your gifted child a superior education. Having a gifted child is usually more comfortable than most of the other children.
However, you might face struggles to deal with your child in certain circumstances. It is entirely normal to see where you can get help. You can find alternatives by hiring a private tutor or sending your child to summer school or camps.
As a parent of a gifted child, you may join communities if needed where other parents of gifted children share their values, ideas, and creativity to help your parenting.
4. Gift them good toys and books
An excellent way to encourage them or nourish them is to give them good stuff according to their taste and interest. Children in the early stages learn most of the things just by playing with toys or seeing them.
Suppose your child likes to hear music or often sings, you can give them toys which are instruments or makes sounds.
Similarly, if your child is involved in reading textbooks, comics, or other fiction books, give them good quality books which he will love to read. Books open a whole new world of intelligence and curiosity. This way, the mind of the gifted child will be more creative.
5. Keep them engaged with interesting activities
Your gifted child is already creative and intelligent. To get comfortable with their intellect level, plan certain activities.
You don’t need to do this regularly but you can plan activities for your kid when free from studies or stay entertained from playing.
For example- you can take your child camping or a new place for traveling, running in a nearby playground.
Every child is unique in their way. Everyone can perform well in a particular field of interest. All they need is a good understanding and supportive environment from their family and friends.
Parents always pray for their child to be smart enough to learn and become a successful person in life. Some children may be God gifted with a considerable number of skills, whereas others are specific in one particular field.
Though parenting is challenging, if parents keep patience and support their children, their lives will become much more comfortable.
Having a gifted child is advantageous as they keep on adapting themselves to the environment. Though dealing with them can be difficult sometimes, they are smart enough to know the situation.
Hence, as soon as you witness the early signs of intelligence in babies, ensure that you aptly support them and contribute to make their lives beautiful.