Rethinking Genius

In part one I discussed how the child changes around the age of eight.  In a nutshell: the child goes from highly motivated to please her parents to wanting to become independent.  This shift in the source of motivation can cause quite a bit of at-home tension. So the first thing to do is acknowledge who wants want.  That adult/parent wants the child to play.  The child wants to play by herself.  A middle ground must be reached. Since the child is motivated by independence, the adult should acknowledge this need.  Approach this slowly.  Find easy tasks that the child doesn't seem to need much help with.  For example, sight reading assignments.  If there's no new complicated rhythm in the sight reading, it's not unreasonable to have the child work on figuring out the sight reading on her own.  The goal of the assignment (to read notes) is very cut and dry. The same goes for figuring out a new piece.  Provided the child has all ...

There is a huge difference between the four-year-old student and the eight-year-old student.  That might sound like an obvious statement.  Of course an eight-year-old is different.  And yet--almost without fail--the parent is inevitably shocked when it happens.  One day the child is fine happily following directions.  The next day that same child wants to do everything himself. When this change takes place some things are easy to allow.  Of course the child can make his own cereal or dress himself.  Those are simple tasks and it's important that he start feeling independent.  With independence comes more responsibility.  The chores that can be assigned to an eight-year-old are different from what a four-year-old could do.  In many ways it's a relief for the parent not to have to monitor the child's every  move. But when comes to practicing this newfound independence usually leads to fights.  Gone are the days where the chil...