YOUR SMART KID WILL DO MORE THAN SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH AND GET GOOD GRADES

Many parents struggle with their particularly intelligent children. In fact they cannot cope. Perhaps, it's because they are not particularly brilliant themselves, or it's because their brilliance has been killed by a very conservative upbringing. So when their kid turns out to be exceptionally smart, they are happy, for the first five years of the child's life, after which the kid starts showing traits that go beyond the usual "See what my kid can do".

1. UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS

Your smart kid will overwhelm you with questions and many of these questions will often put you in a tight spot and outright embarrass the hell out of you. You will think "How can this kid come up with this kind of question?" Well, if you are one of those parents who believe that children should not be talking about certain topics or asking certain questions, then you might want to reconsider. Because your kids will not stop and your attempt at shunning your kid will do them a lot of harm. If you cannot answer your kid's questions simply tell them "I don't know" or "I need to read up on the subject" or be honest and tell them that you do not feel comfortable talking about the subject. We often forget that children are people and you ought to talk with them like you would talk with an adult. There is no better time to start teaching your children complex emotions such as discomfort, shame and embarrassment than when they make you feel that way. That's how you teach them to be emotionally intelligent and responsive to other people's needs.

2. SAY ABSURD THINGS

Your smart child will say things that will leave your jaw hanging on the floor many times. Get ready. And many of those things won't make absolute sense to you. And it won't be necessarily because your kid has just said nonsense, but it will be because you cannot elaborate that kind of information. There is a similarity between a smart kid and an average adult that lives in a liberal society: they have similar pattern of thoughts as their critical thinking ability has not been dumbed down by the society. The main reason why you will be shocked by most of the things your kid will say is because you are not a critically thinking person. Your mind is dogmatic and anything that questions your dogmatic mind is automatically rejected. You may even feel insulted and disrespected. But that's your problem. Deal with it and appreciate that your kid is intelligent.

3. DON'T FIT IN WITH THEIR PEERS

Why would your smart kid fit in with their peers when they are millions of neurons apart? Perhaps your kid might have to stay in class with them, but they do not necessarily have to be friends with them. There is more to a kid's life than their school environment. Also I have noticed among Nigerians especially that people often associate smartness in kids with over-zealousness or the "I too know" attitude. As if it is bad that your kid is smarter than theirs. That's how envy creeps in and other kids and adults start ganging up against your kid. You have to accept that your kid is special and forcing them to mingle with average or mediocre minds will do them more harm than good. You like that your kid is the smartest in the bunch, but trust me, those other parents and their kids do not like it so much.

4. WILL GET BAD GRADES

How can a kid be smart and get bad grades? Well, sir/madam, your kid can be a genius and still suck big time at school. That's because the academic method of teaching does not follow the same often chaotic and non linear way in which the brain of an intelligent person processes information. An intelligent person will often tell you that they cannot focus on one particular subject or thought for too long as that subject or thought often creates multiple branches of thoughts which at their own time create other branches of thoughts. The only time their mind will stop to really ponder is when they'll reach and impasse which will force them to retrace their steps back to the genesis. That is if they need to go that far aback. Most brilliant kids find schools to be boring, and unless they get some sort of validation from getting good grades, they will not bother to do more than what is strictly necessary to pass. 

5. MAY NOT NEED A DEGREE TO BE SUCCESSFUL

I know Nigerian parents won't like this. We love our certificates. We want the degree, then the master's, then the PhD, then the post PhD (?). Everything, every title we can achieve, we want it. Except that for your smart kid, it might be an absolute waste of their time. Many of the millionaires and billionaires of this world are either drop outs or are doing something totally unrelated to what they studied at school. As a parent, it is your duty to help your child discover their talent and help them turn it into a skill. If that skill will require an academic qualification to be put into use professionally, then let the kid know so that together you can work towards that goal. But forcing your smart child to acquire a degree they do not care for to work a job they do not care for will just set them for a lifetime of unhappiness and unfulfillment.