I don’t know how many times I see people talk about their babies and how smart they are.  Proud mommies and daddies will say that their child knows the abc’s by two.  Or they started crawling at 4 months, started walking at 9 months, or started signing at 6 months.  Countless posts are littered through Facebook to exemplify how great their child is doing.  They leave no mention on what areas their child is lacking.  It’s all in an effort to say, “my child is smarter than yours.”

My Child is Smarter Than Yours, Well Not Really

First and foremost, my child is not smarter than yours.  No one really cares about your Facebook posts, except proud grandparents.  Every parent thinks their child is smarter than their piers, but in reality very few are.  As adults we compare intelligence on how many questions you get right on a test.  We consider abilities, jobs and wealth as a sign of intelligence.  Placing this idea of intelligence on a child who has only created only a few hundred neural connections is a bit naive.

To say my child will grow up and become the president of the United States because they can articulate language earlier than another child makes me laugh inside.  Seriously, I’ve heard that one.  In a world where we compare our children to one another I’ve often been caught up in the idea that Johanna might be behind.  She crawled, and walked at a later age.  While waiting for an airplane at the airport, a child behavior specialist saw Johanna scooting rather than crawling.  She made it an effort to tell me Johanna has to learn to crawl or she’ll be scarred for life.  That got me looking for other areas that Johanna might be lacking.  Johanna spoke fewer words at the beginning.

A few years back I saw a child two months younger than Johanna create a four word sentence.  She said, “my name is Charlotte.”   Where Johanna, at 20 Months could barely pull off two word sentences.  However, Charlotte could barely walk without assistance, where Johanna could climb up rock climbing walls, run like the wind, slide down slides and so much more.  If I compare the two girls side by side, each excels at different activities.

Realizing the comparison, it just reaffirmed to me that we can’t compare intelligence of a child at such an early age.  I don’t care if your child knows how to count to 100, mine is still working on it.  I don’t care if your child knows the entire alphabet.  Mine is still working on it.  I don’t care if your child can say articulate sentences and sing full complex songs, mine is still working on it.  I don’t care if your child can play an instrument, mine is still working it.  I don’t care if yours child can do algebra, mine is still working on it.

One of my favorite hobbies is gardening.  Jolene explained it best by saying children are like trees.  Some trees spend all their time growing their branches before they flower.  Other trees flower at an earlier age.  However, after time they all tend to fill in and be a similar size.  There are exceptions on the way.  What’s important in this analogy is they produce different fruit.

At the end of the day I know my IQ and my wife’s great intelligence will bless Johanna with great DNA.  I assure you my child is smarter than yours.  Sarcasm intended.  Finally, to the child behavior specialist who thinks my child will be scarred because she rarely crawled, you and other intellectuals are the cause of the millennial generation’s incompetency.

Timothy