What Kind of “Smart” is Your Child? Unlocking Their Potential

Each day on the daily radio broadcast, John and I have the privilege of interviewing a great variety of people – all of them uniquely gifted by God.

We’ve featured athletes and authors; singers and activists; theologians and politicians… and it’s wonderful to see how they contribute in their own areas, for the glory of God.

By now you might be asking yourself what this has to do with unlocking your child’s potential.

Here’s the link…

All of the luminaries we feature on our broadcast were, at one point in their lives, kids. Now put yourself in their parents’ shoes: Would you raise someone like musically-talented Bono in the same exact way as you would a young Ravi Zacharias, the famed apologist who lives to study and learn from books?

You couldn’t.

You shouldn’t!

You’d quickly realize that God hard-wired us all differently, and what works with one child wouldn’t with another. As a mom or dad, you would have to figure out how to best parent a budding entertainer like Bono versus how to nurture the logical mind of a young Ravi.

Our broadcast guest today will help parents do just that. Author and speaker Dr. Kathy Koch will share eight different ways children are smart and how they think. I think these insights will help moms and dads immensely as they seek to better understand and nurture their children’s talents and abilities.

Here are some more examples: on one hand, we have the word-smart child, who can talk well, write, persuade and instruct. On the other, you have the body-smart child, who enjoys physical activities and excels at movement, touch, and controls his or her body well.

Both of these children are smart – but they’re smart in different ways. They’ll respond well to different teaching techniques and they’ll process the world around them in unique ways. As parents, it’s our job to, with the Lord’s help, figure out how kids are wired and how they think best. Because once we know what kind of smart our child is, we can tap into that intelligence to help him or her better navigate school and life.

I hope you can listen in to our two-part broadcast, “Nurturing Your Child’s Intelligence.” It’s truly full of practical advice that should reap great results.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting December 8, 2014 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura