Your kids' hidden Superpowers

They don't look like superpowers at first. Not at all.

Remember how Spider-man’s powers—when he first discovered them—made a huge mess and didn’t do any good? It took many many hours of practice for him to learn how to be in control of them; and how to use them for good.

Our kids’ superpowers in embryo—their undeveloped genius—can be super frustrating or super weird if they don’t fit conveyor-belt schooling’s narrow (and often inaccurate) definition of genius. Or, like spider-man, it may appear super messy or destructive. We may even think we have given birth to the Green Goblin.

Instead of giving them guidance and a safe space to hone them, our instinct is to pull out the kryptonite to stop all this weirdness and destruction; to make them “above average”—a little ahead of the their peers on the conveyor belt of normality.

Consider: What strength could this apparent weakness become? How can I facilitate its development?

Children have an instinctive drive to practice honing their superpowers, and will often push back at their adult authority figures’, and peers’, efforts to (perhaps unknowingly) squash them.

Indeed, I believe this is one cause of depression in all ages--young people not being able to (or adults being too afraid to) make a *BiG oLd MeSs* developing their superpowers.

And perhaps too afraid to take on the great responsibility that comes with that great power.

*Sidenote: If you've been wanting to try GeniusLog to keep a record of all the great stories you've consumed--books and articles you read, plays and movies you watch, music and art you study--it is on sale for $1 through September 1st. It automatically tallies total # of works studied, and is sortable by subject matter covered, year written (or about), date read, title, author. Must have Excel to use. My 16-year-old daughter has logged over 3,000 works since age 5. Purchase here.