Innate intelligence to develope: Part 1

In my previous posting we have seen the importance of having parents pay more attention to the innate intelligence of their child so that their child gets the opportunity to develope his innate intelligence potential to the full, so that he enjoys his work through being in the right profession or work. It is not just work or professional that I have in mind, it is to help children to achieve their success.

In this blog, there have written how interests of children should be given due attention because when we are interested in a particular field, study of that field is a joy, something like a hobby. I have two children, one of whom is studying to be a veterinarian is found to be interested in nature and animals from a very young age and was encouraged by giving him all types of animals and fish to rear. He read a lot on all those animals and his thirst for knowledge has not yet been quenched to this day. His place and my house still have many fish, crayfish, turtles and tortoises. The other son was found to be interested in the workings of watches, televisions and computers besides electronic toys. Today, his interest has lead him to study engineering. His as well as the other son's innate intelligence has been allowed and encouraged to grow and develope.

Of course, everyone has more than, if not all, one intelligence. The question here is which intelligence is dominating?

You see, every child can, to a certain extent, draw, imagine, see depth, appreciate music and songs as well as sing them, use at least their mother tongue language to express himself/herself, have own opinions and thoughts, relate with other people, empathise with other, play games or enjoy movements, do mathematics, calculate money in his/her daily life, think logically, have opinions or are interested in his/her own existence and have a love for nature and the environment. If a child can, to a certain degree, perform all of the above, then we can say that this child has all the intelligence required to develope to the full.

However, though a certain child can draw, his/her drawing may not be good. In an art class, for example, he/she may not be able to draw things in the right perspective, meaning that a human figure in the background may be drawn just as big as the human figure in the foreground. If that is so, then the child's visual-spatial intelligence is not his/her strong point. Being an artist, an architect or interior designer may not be the best option. In saying that it is not the best option, I imply that he/she could still be any of the above, except that it would take much greater effort to achieve great success.

As an art and craft teacher, I have found that students who may not be strong in visual-spatial intelligence can achieve a certain degree of success through effort and practice of certain skills. You see, drawing and painting are skills which anybody with sufficient practice can develope. I have seen it happen very often. However, to be really excellent, that innate visual-spatial intelligence, that inborn artistic talent, has to be present.

No having that inborn talent does not mean that a person should not learn to draw and understand the use of colours, their lights and shades as well as their contrasts. The person may never be a great artist but the skill can be acquired and then used to enhance other innate intelligence.

Just take for example, someone who possesses innate Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. He/She may become a well-known dance instructor and choreographer. To plan the combination of movements into a dance, the person will need to visualise the combination and, perhaps, draw the moves.

Thus, art and craft should be learned, no matter what prominant innate intelligence a person has, as it is one of the best tools to cultivate imagination, without which there can be no visualisation, and visualisation is necessary for planning successful sales, dates, work and practically everything in life.

Besides visual-spatial intelligence and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, verbal-lingusitic intelligence is seen in every human except for those who are disabled in speech. Even then, such a person could still manifest his/her intelligence in writing. Such people are capable of mastering a good number of languages. Their skill with language can be seen in orating, speeches and writing. Journalist, teachers, lecturers, politicians, authors and poets are the people who possess such high innate verbal-linguistic intelligence.

Just like any intelligence, even if parents do not want their children to aspire to be any of the above, it is important and necessary to learn language well to support other innate intelligence in the quest for excellence.

Some like music less than others because they know that they do not have the talent for it, they realise they do not have a strong innate musical intelligence. Just as with the other intelligence, it does not mean that they should not be involved at all in music for music has many uses. It calms our mind and soul, certain types of background music helps us to concentrate better and it brings happiness and knowledge. Well, let the child enjoy music but do not force him/her to study it seriously to achieve grades necessary to be a music teacher. Frustration can only result with force and no innate talent. Instead let the child enjoy music and life at his level of music intelligence.

People who have dominant musical intelligence can be seen in the child's delight at singing, copying songs, interest in musical instruments and wanting to excel in any of them. These will be the singers, the song-writers and the musicians.

So assist our child to reach his/her innate potential by encouraging him/her to involve in everything, yet go greater in depth into his dominant inborn potential.

Above are just four types of intelligence that parents should encourage in their children with as much time as they can, from as young as possible. It's never too early for the human body is fairly well developed after just a few months in the womb.

Tomorrow, let us think of some other intelligence that we can have our children develope.