So what do you think of child prodigies?

[Zebo]

All of us were to some degree or another but not like these recent superstars. Tiger Woods, the Williams sisters,Jeff Gordan, and Andre Aggasi are some real heavy duty prodigies when there parents (fathers) started them playing and heavy duty practacing at three years old. What do you think of this? Do you think it's good or bad for the children.

 

[Rallispec]

i think its bad for the children.. they completely miss out on the joys of getting to be a kid

 

[djheater]

Our children do not exist for our personal gratification. We should endeavor to live for our children.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think its bad for the children.. they completely miss out on the joys of getting to be a kid

Ya but if sucessful, they can not worry about money after 20 yrs old. Then be a kid the rest of thier life if they so choose. Or they can do anything else they want.

 

[vi edit]

I don't equate athletes with child prodigies.

Now a 12 year old kid who has two undergrad degrees and is working on his masters is a child prodigy, and I am still on the fence as to whether or not a parent should force the kid to "live up to their abilities" and forfieting their childhood in the process.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
I don't equate athletes with child prodigies.

Now a 12 year old kid who has two undergrad degrees and is working on his masters is a child prodigy, and I am still on the fence as to whether or not a parent should force the kid to "live up to their abilities" and forfieting their childhood in the process.

I will catch some heat for this because it's a generalization but here gos:

There are two types of sports IMO. Learned and skilled (there is crossover)

Skilled or natural abilty sports are basketball, track (sprinting, jumping etc), which one can start playing in HS and still make Pro based soley on athletic ablity. Look at Jordan who never played till 10th grade. But he sucked at baseball even being a supurb athlete.

The learned sports include tennis, golf, race car driving, baseball (esp picthing) diving, ice skating and shooting etc. Where people with less than steller athletic phisques can excel gving the right amout of time and practice. This is why I feel it's alot like acedemic prodigies in these sports where pusing at a young age CAN make a huge difference between loosing and winning. Hence they are trained at such an age. And I think you will see in the future all the best will be prodigies ...

 

[Jhill]

I don't consider Tiger a prodigy. He started playing golf when he was 3 years old. That combined with a lot of athleticism= a great golfer. If everyone started golf when they were 3 and played as much as him he would still be one of the best golfers but there would be others like him.

 

[nihil]

No offense but I think a prodigy is more like a person that just *knows* how to do something. I don't really think that learning a sport at a young age is even close to prodigal levels of skill. A better example would be something like this: you throw your 3 year old in front of a computer and all of a sudden they're surfin the web, burning cd's, etc..

I'm not really one to consider sports to be a huge contribution to society. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big hockey buff. But for example, most of those players are good because their parents made them learn at a young age. You can be taught how to do anything at a younger age, it's easier to learn at that level of development.

So what i'm trying to say is that I (personally) think that a prodigy is more related to intelligence, and not skill or athletic talent. We should be pushing kids to read, learn, and explore themselves before introducing them to sports.

 

[nihil]

Originally posted by: Jhill
I don't consider Tiger a prodigy. He started playing golf when he was 3 years old. That combined with a lot of athleticism= a great golfer. If everyone started golf when they were 3 and played as much as him he would still be one of the best golfers but there would be others like him.

My point exactly. While there might have been a natural ability for him to play golf

I am led to believe that it is more of a learned behaviour than anything else.

 

[Moonbeam]

Imagine a kid born with the buddah nature or the potential to be an avitar, at one with the universe. Now that would be a prodigy.

 

[Jhill]

Originally posted by: nihil

Originally posted by: Jhill
I don't consider Tiger a prodigy. He started playing golf when he was 3 years old. That combined with a lot of athleticism= a great golfer. If everyone started golf when they were 3 and played as much as him he would still be one of the best golfers but there would be others like him.

My point exactly. While there might have been a natural ability for him to play golf

I am led to believe that it is more of a learned behaviour than anything else.

I think your right on. Most PGA tour pros started when they where VERY young. I thin a pga tour pro that started in his teens is very rare.

 

[Zebo]

I think you guys misunderstood what I mean by "child prodigy". I was asking whether YOU think pushing you kids hours each day in a particular field (sports in this instance) is a good or bad thing. The term "child prodigy" is commonly used on sports shows and the sports pages as a metaphor for pushing a child from a very young age to do somthing which can lead to a career in that feild.

 

[nihil]

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I think you guys misunderstood what I mean by "child prodigy". I was asking whether YOU think pushing you kids hours each day in a particular field (sports in this instance) is a good or bad thing. The term "child prodigy" is commonly used on sports shows and the sports pages as a metaphor for pushing a child to do somthing which can lead to a career in that feild.

I understood completely, I just felt as though i had to define child prodigy, myself. And yes, I think that it's kinda dumb to push kids towards sports. Whatever happened to the value of education?

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: nihil

Originally posted by: Carbonyl
I think you guys misunderstood what I mean by "child prodigy". I was asking whether YOU think pushing you kids hours each day in a particular field (sports in this instance) is a good or bad thing. The term "child prodigy" is commonly used on sports shows and the sports pages as a metaphor for pushing a child to do somthing which can lead to a career in that feild.

I understood completely, I just felt as though i had to define child prodigy, myself. And yes, I think that it's kinda dumb to push kids towards sports. Whatever happened to the value of education?

Edumawha?

Seriously, our K - 12 schools are degrading into being a sports complex. Education takes a backseat to whatever else is going on. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for kids being kids and having fun while they're young, I just don't think they are pushed hard enough. They need to be academically challenged.

 

[yakko]

Grilled right they are like a small slice of heaven.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Im a child prodigy.

 

[Descartes]

Now a 12 year old kid who has two undergrad degrees and is working on his masters is a child prodigy, and I am still on the fence as to whether or not a parent should force the kid to "live up to their abilities" and forfieting their childhood in the process.

How is this different from a child who's parents "force" them to play tennis, basketball, or golf all day? A child has no concept of such goals at that age, but their parents do.

 

[gopunk]

Originally posted by: Rallispec
i think its bad for the children.. they completely miss out on the joys of getting to be a kid

i would completely disagree, i know quite a few "prodigies" and very few of them regret missing out on anything.

i think the definition being used for "child prodigy" is incorrect, but just for the sake of discussion, i will say that the behavior you describe really depends on the situation. it should be the parent's job to help the child find something to focus on. and of course the kid is not going to always want to practice or whatever, but as long as the parent is urging the child because they can see that the child enjoys it, and not because they want to have a famous child, i have no problem with it.