We all know that parents are pretty much obsessed with IQ. Many of them even send their children to a whole lot of enrichment lessons in fervent hope of getting their precious little ones selected for the highly sought-after Gifted Education Program (GEP). But guess what? High IQ Singapore children are now being identified as young as 2!
High IQ Singapore children
Mensa Singapore, a society of people with high IQ, currently has an active membership of approximately 1300 people. It is experiencing a surge in the number of young children joining and members under the age of 12 make up about a quarter of the total membership.
The number of high IQ Singapore children has increased rather drastically. The numbers have tripled from three years ago when there were only about 100 children identified to fall under this category of ‘geniuses’. These kids have outstanding IQ scores that rank them in the top 2% of the population.
It’s not necessarily true that the recent times has brought about an increase in the number of high IQ Singapore children. Rather, it is an increase in the number of identified high IQ children.
This is largely attributed to parents sending their children to sit for intelligence tests at a much younger age.
Ms. Priscilla Lee, president of Mensa Singapore, who is a registered psychologist, explained that parents discover early on that their children are gifted and they are looking for the right environment to support, groom and stretch their children.
While of course there are parents who use this as another point to brag about, other parents of high IQ Singapore children just really want the best for their children. They understand that their gifted children find it difficult to find friends with similar interests and frequency, and they need other avenues to feel included and engaged.
Author Patricia Koh, 38, a mum of two high IQ Singapore children herself, said, “Gifted kids need an environment to discover their potential. We want to help them flourish.”
Gifted children need to be in the right environment to maximise their full potential.
Both of Ms. Koh’s sons, aged three and seven, have been members of Mensa Singapore since they were two. She also added that people tend to perceive gifted children as arrogant because they display boredom. But they are bored because the nature of the activity is not engaging enough for them.
In fact, high IQ Singapore children are in a difficult situation for people often mistake them to have a behavioural problem such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Parents are clueless about their children’s IQ scores and only happen to ‘discover’ it.
This was the case of researcher Celine Lee, 40. Thinking that her then three-year-old daughter, Isabelle, was hyperactive, she sent her for tests. Tests proved that she had a high IQ and not ADHD. Eventually, Isabelle became a member of Mensa.
About Mensa Singapore
Mensa is like a support group for children and parents to share their experiences. Mrs Lee believes that Mensa’s activities are wholesome and good for the development of high IQ Singapore children.
Mensa conducts activities once in every two months and during the school holidays. It aims to stimulate the interest of these high IQ Singapore children, as well as to help them in building their social skills.
It does not conduct formal classroom lessons. Instead, it takes fun and appealing approach to learning by bringing children to places like Kidzania and organising things like music appreciation classes and coding workshops.
Anyone who takes the intelligence test and scores within the top 2% of the population is eligible to become a member of Mensa Singapore. The fees are subsidised for children and they pay $48 a year or $128 for three years.
One of the activities organised by Mensa Singapore includes coding workshops.
Brilliance comes with a price
Knowing the nature of Singaporeans, the ‘kiasu’ syndrome will kick in and parents will start ‘grooming’ their children to have high IQ scores. This may lead to them placing undue pressure and stress on the children which in turn is damaging to the child and his interest in learning.
Also, as a Singaporean mum thoughtfully pointed out, IQ does not matter as much as EQ (emotional intelligence). All the IQ in the world will not help a child. As parents, we shouldn’t be so busy grooming our children to be everything but humans!
High IQ is something that is innate and parents should not turn this into a competition and force their children to ace IQ tests. It simply does not work in that manner.
Dr. Timothy Chan, director of SIM’s Global Education’s academic division, emphasised the need for parents to give their children ‘a holistic childhood with diverse experiences where they can pick up in-demand skills such as perseverance”.
He added that IQ scores aren’t all that important and don’t have a huge impact on the outcome of a child’s life. It’s more important for children to have the quality of life and grow up surrounded by peers from all walks of life.
Similarly, assistant banker Melissa Lee has a seven-year-old daughter Caitlyn, who has been a Mensa member for about two years. She has never told her daughter about her high IQ scores or gifted ability in fear that it might make her complacent.
She mentioned that their family emphasises on the importance of hard work and tenacity. They wanted her to enjoy growing up without feeling different from her peers.
Upon noticing her child to be precocious, Ms Lee sent her daughter to get tested.
Well mums and dads, do remember once again that high IQ Singapore children are mostly born that way. If your child is learning things way ahead of the curve, reads much faster than her peers, or is excelling in some niche areas, you might want to consider getting her checked. For more information on spotting gifted children, follow this link:
8 traits of a gifted child
Gifted or not, do remember to always believe in your children and to groom them to the best of their abilities! Don’t get too caught up in the rat race and force them to be in the top 2%!
Source: The Straits Times
