What are your opinions of child prodigies?

[CottonBolus]

You know, people who were exceptionally good at something when they are very young. Imo, these types of people don't really grow up to be that great. They hit their peak when they are extremely young. Has anyone had any experiences with child prodigies. What are your experiences been like?


The martial arts prodigy.

[PreTTy PeTe]

they are delicious

[Rolyo85]

Um, false. Child prodigies can develop into grown up geniuses. It's all about how they grow up. My field (classical music) is full of those, and they usually fall prey to overachieving parents who destroy their childhoods. As a result, they grow up damaged, and often (though not always, and I wouldn't even say more often than not) lose their talent as a result. But there are countless examples of kids who grew up just fine with their superior talent, and some that didn't, but still kept it (Joshua Bell who is a borderline pedophile for example, but still brilliant).

[BFizzle]

Britney still churning out #1's.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

well planet ans all life is enjoyin woteva it is awsum civlizations doins as eva
wot dat is
- got be awsum -
cause

thankyou

[HunterM]

I wish I were really good at something...at anything.

[freefall]

Usually:
1. The children's parents turn money and fame-oriented and force the prodigies to do things outside their will, so bad they become burnt out and reject their own talent because of their disgust toward their parents. This turns them into bitter existences.
2. The children become snobbish, which do them no good when they find some other people to be better than them while they do not improve because of their high pride. They become depressed, dejected, and fall down from their throne. This turns them into bitter existences.
3. The children become so overwhelmed with everything they become burnt out, stressed, and deviated, and potentially institutionalised. This turns them into bitter existences.

There are some kids who survive just fine without turning into bitter existences, but I can count them with fingers.

Britney still churning out #1's.

I have yet heard anyone saying Britney is a child prodigy. Just sayin'.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

^ so a best a brights folks runs worlds institooteess ans profoesssions etc alls nuts then? ^

SSSSSH"
ooh dat classsfied then?
SSSSSSH"
peanuts?
OKAY"

peanuts

thankyou

[justanothershyguy]

I have yet heard anyone saying Britney is a child prodigy. Just sayin'.

She was in the Mickey Mouse Club with Justin & Christina. Just sayin'.

[freefall]

^I never knew being in the Mickey Mouse Club immediately guarantee someone becoming a child prodigy. Just sayin'.

[BFizzle]

I never knew being in the Mickey Mouse Club immediately guarantee someone becoming a child prodigy.

Now you know.

[HunterM]

Honey Boo Boo is a child prodigy. Just sayin'.

[palbert]

Mozart seems to have turned out okay.

[Scealle]

I have seen a few. Some continue to be excellent at what they are doing (mostly studying) and got a full scholarship to study overseas. Some strayed in the process of growing up and didn't get make it to college.

[Harke the Boeotarch]

I used to desperately hope I was one of them even though there wasn't actually any evidence at all for it.

[Coward92]

I am one of them and I waste my talent because nobody loves me. :/

[Harke the Boeotarch]

I am one of them and I waste my talent because nobody loves me. :/

I'm sorry, but you actually have to be a child to be a child prodigy.

[Coward92]

I'm sorry, but you actually have to be a child to be a child prodigy.

I respectfully diasgree.
What I was is still me. I carry my past within myself, as it is the base of everything I am or will be.

[refujiunderground]

that most of them grow up to be troubled as the usual story with gifted people.

[SLOPPYSECONDS]

all life is gifted

or dat ova awsum 1st world heads no figa how let life be

thankyou

[EuroSoccer]

You know, people who were exceptionally good at something when they are very young. Imo, these types of people don't really grow up to be that great. They hit their peak when they are extremely young. Has anyone had any experiences with child prodigies. What are your experiences been like?

[MisterMajestic]

Aretha Franklin didnt turn out so bad...

[justanothershyguy]

Mozart was dead at 35, does this mean he wasn't a child prodigy after all?

[star-warrior]

"Some mothers do 'ave 'em".

[EuroSoccer]

Mozart was dead at 35, does this mean he wasn't a child prodigy after all?

I don't understand your point.........

[MisterMajestic]

Liberace was another one....(Can't wait to see the Love scenes between Michael Douglas & Matt Damon when HBO airs the movie)....

[oakpope]

It is mostly painful to be a very intelligent kid. You see things you wish you didn't.

[justanothershyguy]

I don't understand your point.........

Then we are even

[penayforay]

Britney still churning out #1's.

maybe the team that produces her music for her is full of child prodigies


poor gurl cant even sing happy birthday right

[EuroSoccer]

Then we are even

So why you post something that doesn't make sense if you didn't understand the meaning of the post you are replying to?

I thought my point of view was obvious actually.
Wiz kidz grow up messed up (most of them) because they never had the chance to be kids, hence the photos of some troubled famous people who were child prodigies and lost the plot.
Of course that's my opinion, which is debatable.

There you go, now you can reply accordingly.

[EuroSoccer]

Britney still churning out #1's.

Yes but she is a mess..........being successful doesn't necessarily make people happy.

[ixthrock]

It is mostly painful to be a very intelligent kid. You see things you wish you didn't.

I'll say. I was one; I still see people a little more clearly than they are comfortable with. Given a little focus and discipline, who knows what I might have accomplished. Now, I'm no better than a dilettantish nerd - rather run-of-the-mill if I may say so, when compared to the smattering of erudition expressed by a few in this forum. I know how to read music and have a good head for figures. pfft, who doesn't? A little trauma and counselling and some community-college psychology classes may have given me a little insight - but I usually lose friends with that little knowledge, rather than win any respect.

that most of them grow up to be troubled as the usual story with gifted people.

Yeah, I hear people blaming parents - but "prodigy" typically goes hand-in-hand with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Run-of-the-mill gifted kids like me just don't fit in well with the other kids for different, but not necessarily dissimilar, reasons. I have a hefty dose of Affective Disorder - what night be called manic-depressive - as a genetic gift from my mom, but that didn't really become an issue until the age when, say, schizophrenia typically sets in (usu. around the 20's - a little later for me.) Reading at a much higher level than all the other kids, "getting" new concepts in math quicker, riding the special bus and getting out of normal class every other week didn't bode well for me and the common forms of socialization that the other kids were engaging in.

[Keeland]

These guys are doing all right despite the millstone of child prodigiousness.

[teadrinker]

Terry Tao, mathematician.

Aged 2: could do arithmetic.
Aged 8: SAT score of 760 in math.
Aged 9: Attending university courses in mathematics.
Early teens: youngest ever medal winner in International Mathematical Olympiad (punishingly hard competition).
Aged 16: got both Bachelors and masters degrees.
Aged 20: PhD.
Aged 24: Youngest ever full professor at UCLA.
Aged 31: Winner of Fields Medal (sometimes called the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics").

Now (aged 37) happily married with a child, possibly the greatest living mathematician, and claims that some of his best ideas come while he's chatting to other parents waiting to pick up his child from day-care.

To me, Tao embodies genius. He has a mind so astonishing that he seems several levels more evolved than me. And he is a child prodigy who has seamlessly moved into adulthood while maintaining his genius and his humanity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao

Whether he's an exception I don't know, but he does show that not every child prodigy burns out by adulthood.

If you want peek at his mind, read his blog: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/

-T.

[Coward92]

Terry Tao, mathematician.

Aged 2: could do arithmetic.
Aged 8: SAT score of 760 in math.
Aged 9: Attending university courses in mathematics.
Early teens: youngest ever medal winner in International Mathematical Olympiad (punishingly hard competition).
Aged 16: got both Bachelors and masters degrees.
Aged 20: PhD.
Aged 24: Youngest ever full professor at UCLA.
Aged 31: Winner of Fields Medal (sometimes called the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics").

Now (aged 37) happily married with a child, possibly the greatest living mathematician, and claims that some of his best ideas come while he's chatting to other parents waiting to pick up his child from day-care.

To me, Tao embodies genius. He has a mind so astonishing that he seems several levels more evolved than me. And he is a child prodigy who has seamlessly moved into adulthood while maintaining his genius and his humanity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao

Whether he's an exception I don't know, but he does show that not every child prodigy burns out by adulthood.

If you want peek at his mind, read his blog: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/

-T.

No shit. Seriously, this is some serious thing.

[youfiad]

Whether he's an exception I don't know, but he does show that not every child prodigy burns out by adulthood.
If you want peek at his mind, read his blog: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/

-T.

He's barely gotten started with his life. All great math nerds eventually burn out .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Boltzmann

[penayforay]

Terence Tao is 37...hes almost middle aged lol

[maxpowr9]

He's barely gotten started with his life. All great math nerds eventually burn out .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Boltzmann

John Nash [the real person of 'A Beautiful Mind'] is still kicking it at 84 with advanced game theory.

[wundersteve]

They can get on my nerves. I think children should live as children and save the mass displays of talent until they are grown. I was never able to get into Charlotte Church or that other young girl who sings popera...creeps me out. I also don't like politically active children lecturing adults, like that boy in the 90s who was campaigning against overseas child labour, even though the issue itself may be meritorious.

[star-warrior]

Terry Tao, mathematician.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao

When asked by his father how he knew numbers and letters, he said he learned them from Sesame Street.

This ought to be THE outstanding reason why PBS should be supported.