I'm through with being impressed by talented children, amirite?

Those kids are usually like savants of some sort. Which I actually do find to be uninteresting, but not every kid has the same potential for that kind of stuff lol, otherwise they all grow into adults with those incredible skills...?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Even the most intellectually gifted of savants I've been lucky to meet were never as remarkable as advertised. Same goes for any skills they practiced.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

>Even the most intellectually gifted of savants I've been lucky to meet were never as remarkable as advertised. We see them in university as part of high school bridge & early scholar programs. Often they're very brilliant in a set area but struggle. The worst thing is that they're often peerless; they are taking a semi-full load of university courses and are mismatched with their age cohort. They struggle socially. I'm often not sure having them become BSc graduates at 15 is worthwhile.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I think it's better to leave them in their normal year and just let them grow into incredibly talented adults. Like sure, you've got a degree at 15, now what? Are you going to immediately go into full time work? Repeatedly do degree after degree?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I had a kid in a class I taught when I was a PhD student and he was nice but so entirely unable to connect with people that I felt bad for him. He'd come to my office hours (which coincided with lunch hours) just to eat with someone. He had no one who really shared similar interests with him. I kept thinking that this kid needed to be with other nerdy kids his age. What I find happens with them is they get a BSc but aren't really employable, so they go and earn an MSc and then a PhD and then work in industry on the R&D side of the house. They aren't really fit to teach; they aren't really fit to conduct academic research, so they wind-up in industry, often with no route into leadership. Honestly, it sounds terrible.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

My mother declined to let me skip a grade in school, so as to be with my social "cohort." But she was wrong, it was not until college that I finally met intellectual and social peers. So as I see it, I was held back a year.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

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by Anonymous 1 year ago

Thank you!

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yep. Amazing musical virtuoso thst can play aproximated simple versions of most popular songs they hear can't play the real version and has never written a song themselves.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Well trained monkeys playing for their (likely abusive) masters is all I see with these kids. That and life-long dénouement.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Usually people who are really good at one thing, tend to lack skills in other ways. Being well rounded is far more useful.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah I went through multiple music schools with another individual. We played different instruments but were equally skilled. He however never needed to practice and could just sight read through most pieces. He definitely understood music much better than me, almost to a savant level, but because I practiced I ended up surpassing him by quite a bit by the time our educations ended and careers began. At least with music I find dedication beats natural ability 99/100

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It depends on how willing the dedicated person is to improving. The actual successful opera singers I know have natural ability *and* practice at least a few hours a day.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree that, most of the time, natural ability is going to be beneficial for honing a craft. I believe the benefit of natural ability is usually much lower however, than the benefit of putting effort into improving that ability.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

None of them end up being polymaths because even geniuses are limited with the time they have available. So they concentrate their talents, and it's usually in areas that the vast majority of people aren't really interested in. It's why everyone knows who child basketball prodigy Lebron James is, but not who child pianist prodigy Evgeny Kissin is.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

we all must repent. Christ is coming here

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I'm completely and utterly sick of hearing about "12 year old graduates Harvard" or whatever. we're supposed to think "wow, this kid is amazingly smart" and ignore the part where everyone else doesn't getv entrance standards and prerequisites waived, and can't magically get all the required classes for a 4 year degree in 2 years. all it tells us is the kid is smart, but mostly that his parents have wealth and connections to grease the kid through a process that is rigid and unyielding for the rest of us

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Adults finding their talents later in life is very impressive to me. Especially while navigating a day job and bills

by Anonymous 1 year ago

💓 yes. And I appreciate a lot of amateurs' work just because, like seriously I enjoy looking at little doodles someone makes, it doesn't have to be a grand painting So I don't necessarily agree with op because I am impressed by those with great skill. I just don't like anyone who is overhyped though, and some of us maybe deserve more time or money for things, but life is cruel

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The book Never Too Late To Be Great by Thomas Butler-Bowdon is worth reading, it sums up the fact that many people who are well known for something didn't achieve their renowned reputation until much later in their life. Many times they had had to work a regular job for years before their breakthrough

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I can't help but feel bad for them. This may not always be the case, but a lot of them seem like they're taken advantage of by the people who are supposed to be protecting them, and they don't get a lot of, if any, unconditional love or normal human interaction. The only thing that seems to matter to anyone is their talent.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I read somewhere that kids who are extremely smart and talented are more prone to depression and anxiety when they get older. since they accumulate expectations as they grow older they are more likely to become maladjusted in adulthood

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree. A lot of us were prodigies in one way or another. Whether it was reading at an 9th grade level in the 2nd grade, or passing tests without studying. It always burns the kid out as they get older and they realize they aren't a Elementary School legend and they have to actually work on their skills. They don't realize this until late high school/early college. Kids are sponges, they learn things freakishly fast. I could play the violin without reading music at 10, now??? I couldn't tune it to save my life. Kids are expected to be geniuses at everything their good at. Now I just see them and hope the parents encourage a back up plan if these insanely good talents don't last for longs

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I'm equally impressed and saddened. Unless it's a natural talent that doesn't require much training, most of the precocious kids are simply overtrained circus animals for the benefit of their parents. No 6yo enjoys practicing Chopin for several hours a day, or repeating the same dance routine til their feet get blisters. Kids need their own time to play, and even get bored and do nothing. Which is not compatible with the schedule of a prodigy.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The kids who are prodigy's or super talented hone those skills their whole lives so that they can make a living and be successful when they're older. People used to tell me I was super talented with music, but I didn't commit to practicing, instead I focused on my schooling, and am doing pretty good for myself. It's really no different than athletes who train their whole lives to become professionals. You simply didn't have a childhood that allowed you to be one of those kids, and that's not a bad thing. But that doesn't mean that it's bad to be impressed by the kids that do have those opportunities

by Anonymous 1 year ago

IDK man. I'm still pretty Impressed with my younger self for having beat Ninja Gaiden and Mega Man 2

by Anonymous 1 year ago

So, you were at that age and capability at some point. You didn't achieve that level, I assume. It's impressive that they did it, because it is abnormal. Good for them!

by Anonymous 1 year ago

EXACTLY. Yes, kids are learning machines. But it still takes some amount of practice and discipline to do these things. They should still be celebrated for that.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

So because they have more time and learning capabilities their achievements mean nothing? Not a lot of 5 year olds can play the piano

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This is a weird one because liking children who are extremely talented isnt an opinion its just a natural reaction people have to seeing great talent. All those examples are things I would also be impressed with an adult doing. Plus most kids cannot show off amazing talents so it is impressive when one can.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah, the kid banging out Mozart on a piano and the one watching SpongeBob and eating dirt are totally the same

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Tbh, yeah. The difference? Parents forcing them to take piano lessons 3 hours a day every day. Kid eating dirt? Their parents are just normal parents.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

That's the complete opposite of the premise though. Daily 3 hours lessons are a learned, practiced, and refined skill, not raw talent

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah, there is not a single soul that has never laid hands on a piano and can just bust out Mozart perfectly in 1 go. I dont care how much of a prodigy anyone is, practice is required for anything musically, unless you're producing in a DAW, but that still requires you to learn how to operate the software at a professional level, which still required practice.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I don't know what your point is now. The whole premise here was that any kid just picks things up easily. What point are you making?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You realize that 99% of kids don't have the ability to do those kinds of things. They aren't all "learning machines" that can become masters of the piano or of linguistics. These are prodigies with a natural talent. So they deserve the praise they get.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I have autism but there is some kids who have autism and are also savants and part of me wishes i had the savant in me, but at the same time i feel kids who are savants have an even harder time socially cause kids tend to get jealous for find it weird when kids are smart or good at things other kids aren't.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Imagine being such a waste of a person that you re jealous on little kids and belitting their talents

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Ikr. Little kids still have to put in some effort and they should be praised for that! A kid can't go to a few little music classes and suddenly play Chopin. It still takes practice and discipline!

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Did a kid show you up or something? Just asking...

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Looks like someone is jealous that a kid is more talented than him.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Or.. maybe he's just trying to make a point about something that happens in our society? Why do you have to assume the worst intention of OP?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

if they even are jealous, why shouldn't they be? jealousy doesn't have to always be "destructive". it's a pretty universal feeling that can even be seen in most animals.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Guy is upset that kids are better than him at stuff. That's pretty sad.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

i still don't see the problem that's pretty justified to me.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Agree with you 💯, OP is a salty loser.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Envy

by Anonymous 1 year ago

YES. All children would be super talented if we raised them in a nurturing world where everyone had their basic needs met, and communities were supported & nourished. Most of em now are just privileged.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

IMO. These are the kids that had the opportunity to learn. Not actually "genius" or "talented"

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah, some of them are just "trained monkeys" basically. But I like Carlin's quote about playing the blues, "it's not that you know the right notes to be played, it's that you know *why they need to be played*."

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Another way of saying "I can't do that"? What about "I can do the same and I know how hard it is, it's impressive how the 5 year old does it"?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah no… I guarantee, even as a child, you wouldn't have been able to master the things these children have. Being a child isn't some superpower that you are portraying it as. Identifying a talent at such a young age and then developing it to the point where we see it is special.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This is such a weird take. Being impressed by skill and talent doesn't detract from what you do, bud.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yeah screw those kids and their abilities. Who do they think they are? And when judging their talent, everyone always uses the qualifier " you're a kid". That takes any credibility away from the talent and whoever is judging. Plus most of the times it's not the kids, it's the parents that push their kids beyond the breaking point so that they can love their dreams vicariously through them. Until I see some 10 year old ninja brutally beat up a shoulin monk, kids can just kiss off.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

While you're free to hate children just as much as the next person, it's important to note the little monsters should avoid bright light, don't get them wet, and don't feed them after midnight.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

File this under, "Things I never say out loud around other people." 😂

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You also don't get to see the rest of their life. A lot of it could be their parents making them spend all their time on it. Sure, they develop a skill but may not even be happy. That being said I am sure there are cases where the kid is happy too. But you don't really know regardless

by Anonymous 1 year ago

A life full of piano is a life devoid of non-piano things. And that's kind of sad imo.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

A lot of kids are better at things than I am. I'm horrible at math for example. A ten year old being better at math than I am is not surprising to me. I had to take a slower math class because I was (and still am) so bad at it. Not to mention my parents constantly tell me that my classes are harder than theirs were when they were in school. So I imagine as time goes it'll be the same for future kids having harder classes than I had in school. It's only natural for kids to be smarter than I am but there's also adults smarter than I am. I don't take it too seriously to be honest. I'm not perfect, so what? Nobody is perfect. Those super talented kids are amazing I'll admit but at the same time I feel kinda bad for them. Most of the time they don't just start being that good at what they're doing. Usually it involves years of working on that skill and then you remember they're 5 so spending years on something means spending a majority of their life on it. The reason I feel kinda bad for them is because they don't get much of a normal childhood where you're supposed to be allowed to be dumb and learn about how life works slowly. They're not really allowed to do that and I imagine they have a bit of a hard time relating to other kids their own age. Especially the kids that are reported on. When tons of people are allowed to know who they are it's kinda hard to feel like the other kids. It's also a fact that usually they don't even want to work that hard. It's the adults in their life making them do so. Of course not all of them are like that. But I imagine there are quite a few and it does make me feel a little bad for them.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

What? Not every kid can do all of those amazing things though.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

You got some kid geniuses, but not all thrive. Some do, like Terence Tao (a famous mathematician) some do not, they just become "average/above average" once they are adults, compared to peers. \- And as some have said, some are "amazing" just because of their environment: pushy parents, money, tutors, etc...

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Most of these geniuses and prodigies turnout no better than the average joe by 40's It does even out most of the time They missout out a lot of kid stuff by being good at adult stuff Things they can't do at any other age

by Anonymous 1 year ago

How many children are you focusing on that you've reached a point that you don't want to focus on them anymore?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I mean, I didn't have the motivation, wearwithall, or compacity to learn 17 languages at 6. So yeah, color me impressed by our imaginary friend here.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yes, kids are learning machines. But it still takes some amount of practice and discipline to do these things. They should still be celebrated for that. Them being "learning machines" and you not being able to do the same shouldn't take away from their accomplishments. You can become just as good at things too, just don't expect to learn at the same pace as a kid. Yes, you have to put in more effort as an adult, but it still doesn't mean what the kid is doing isn't impressive or undeserving of praise. Also not all kids are the same. Some kids get things easier than other kids do. Not every kid playing the piano at 4 are equally as good or put in equal amount of effort.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Just admit you're jealous of child prodigies. (It's ok, I am too.)

by Anonymous 1 year ago

They aren't just kids with a lot of free time. If that was the case, the majority of people would have similar talents that they acquired at similar ages. The talented kids you speak of are prodigies. They didn't just learn a skill quickly, they basically start with it. These aren't levels of skill that your average person could reach with enough practice. Sure some could, but these kids are just gifted. With that being said, feel however you will about it. I personally think they're neat.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Kids spend as much time in school as you do in a full time job. Sure, they usually have less chores, but they have homework. And sometimes yeah chores. They have at best equal the amount of free time as you, sometimes possibly less. Don't act like they have more time or like you're too stressed and they can't be. These skills take time to develop and yeah, it's a little easier for kids sometimes but adults are still capable of these things and have just as much time as kids. And frankly, you just sound bitter than kids are more talented than you are.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

They cant trick me. Ive seen enough Wifeswap to know its not just "natural" talent.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I feel sad for them. Not because they also have some sob story already. It is because they already peeked, it is only going go down from there on and likely suffer depression.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Or they'll just continue to be talented

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Can be, Britney Spears is very talented at young age and still successful. But, it is hard to keep up though. It is hard to juggle between school and extra talents at the same time. And most of all, talented people never really failed, so, they don't appreciate their success, they think they are entitled to success because they worked hard on it. So, they didn't realize they are in heaven, and felt the world is stale.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's honestly always freaked me out when I see incredibly high performing children. I usually just assume that the parents are heavily pushing them into it

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I find it extremely self-doubting to see a kid 5x younger than me doing so much better than I could possibly do.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

What I believe is young talents should be nurtured and encouraged. Some people get carried away and they start exploiting these talents for fame or money, so I think there's a fine line here.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

It's not just that. These "genius" kids always end up burnout with 15 and are depressed adults. Let kids enjoy being kids!!

by Anonymous 1 year ago

For some reason I absolutely love this take

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I agree. I had a curb your enthusiasm moment at a birthday party where a guy told me how impressive a kid was because he could say like a bunch of numbers in pie. and I was like That's not really impressive. He's like but it is and I'm like where are you going to use that, I don't think it's a big deal. The guy looked at me like I was some kind of asshole lol

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Honestly sounds more like bitching than actually good unpopularopinion

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Only some kids are talented

by Anonymous 1 year ago

These kids quite often end up having less than impressive adulthoods too. Too much time spent on their talent and not enough playing can actually be detrimental.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Well, damn. That IS unpopular and I don't disagree. Updoot salute.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Oh, capitalism wearing you down? Genetics pissing you off? Have a rant.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

As a kid, I remember a DAY would feel about as long as a WEEK does today. Summer vacation of 3 months felt like eternity, and so did school days. When you have that kind of time, you can accomplish a lot.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Nothing worse than seeing AGT or BGT and it's a bunch of kids and they aren't great, and they aren't going to win, but the judges are overly nice and send them through…. It's stupid

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The vast majority of kids aren't anything special at sports or music or art. What a crappy take, OP.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Jelly?

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I wish I was hot housed as a kid. Maybe I would actually be good at something now.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I just associate 90% with higher than average wealth and privilege (nurturing parents). I'm rather envious of younger artists and writers but it's not their fault they had advantages and I do not.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Usually I'm not terribly impressed, it's kind of a novelty, but every now and then one comes up that I enjoy like that yodeling kid. He was funny as hell

by Anonymous 1 year ago

With social media, it's no longer a novelty

by Anonymous 1 year ago

The amazing part isn't kid vs adult, it's kids compared to other kids and they are still breakouts.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Really, it's showing that you are impressed by the teacher or parent.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Quit being such a. Debby downer

by Anonymous 1 year ago

All I see here are jealous adults

by Anonymous 1 year ago

I hate the fake little geniuses...you know...the online BS where the parents are doing it all and telling us that their kids are doing it.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Most of these online prodigies are fake, yes but you can't deny the ones with true talent

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Yes. I agree. But, there are a lot of people schilling their kids online.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

This is a nice way of saying "Don't trans your kids"

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Not really that unpopular because nobody really likes these kids in the first place

by Anonymous 1 year ago

Crap, that's totally what I've been doing wrong all this time. Thank you so much for the reminder. I guess I'll need to fire up the microwave to take care of things.

by Anonymous 1 year ago

There was something similar to this mentioned on XFM radio a long time ago. One of the hosts, Ricky Gervais, says "a 2 day-old Gazelle can run faster than a race horse", Karl, one of the other hosts, is not that impressed and says "Yeah, but that's what they do. A fly can fly - I'm 30, and I can't fly, because it's not what (we're supposed to) do". His point being, an interesting fact is only interesting because it's relative to what we know. To a fly, flying is as instinctive as eating is for us, but if a human baby started flying it'd be amazing.

by Anonymous 1 year ago