Non-Breeder: The Prodigy
My friends want their kids to be as advanced as I was.
by Justin Clark
October 15, 2007
When people start talking about their crazy childhoods, I get a little defensive: few were as odd as mine. When I was eight years old, a national chess champion, the television cameramen invaded my bedroom. When I entered college at ten, my calculus professor spotted me in the front row and asked where my parents were. When I was a junior, my fellow students were amused that my voice was still cracking. To this day, saying "I was a child prodigy" is a sure way to intrigue someone on a first date, if not always the best way to ensure a second.
Still, I'd gone for years without thinking much about my past. That all changed when my friends started having kids, and I became a de facto consultant on genius.
"You need to come over right now," my friend Daphna calls to tell me one afternoon. She sounds alarmed, and I ask her if everything is all right.
"Just come over," Daphna insists.
I rush over to her place, expecting some sort of medical emergency. (For some reason, I am also the de facto consultant on rashes and head bumps.)
Instead of the scene of an accident, I find Daphna and her three-year-old, Theo, playing a game that looks like Memory. Daphna flipsThis is the fourth or fifth sign of incipient genius Daphna has asked me to validate in a month. over one of a few dozen Pog-like cards arrayed on the floor, revealing a pair of roller skates. Without prompting, Theo turns over the matching card. They repeat the routine three or four times in a row, before Daphna turns and looks at me.
"Unbelievable, isn't it?" she says.
This is the fourth or fifth sign of incipient genius Daphna has asked me to validate in a month. The truth is I have no clue what a three year-old is supposed to be able to do. I shrug.
"When were you able to do something like this?" Daphna asks.
"At about two weeks," I joke.
"I don't know why his teacher isn't telling me about this. I think we may need to get him into a new preschool where he'll be challenged."
I imagine toddlers hooked up to virtual reality machines, honing their Memory skills to Rain Man levels. I know how difficult it was for Daphna and Julien to find Theo a decent preschool on their modest income. I also know Daphna will never stop wanting more for her child; few mothers do.
©2007 Justin Clark and Babble.com
About the Author
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A recent graduate of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Justin Clark has written for L.A. Weekly, Psychology Today, Black Book, Architecture, Fuse, and The Fader, among other publications. He is currently researching a history of the American child prodigy, and writing a mystery novel set in Los Angeles. |
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