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The boy who knew too much: a child prodigy

This is the true story of scientific child prodigy, and former baby genius, Ainan Celeste Cawley, written by his father. It is the true story, too, of his gifted brothers and of all the Cawley family. I write also of child prodigy and genius in general: what it is, and how it is so often neglected in the modern world. As a society, we so often fail those we should most hope to see succeed: our gifted children and the gifted adults they become. Site Copyright: Valentine Cawley, 2006 +

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Optimism vs. pessimism


A few days ago, Ainan observed:

Negative thinking: you are never disappointed.”

His remark came in the midst of a conversation about attitudes on life.

He seemed to be endorsing negative thinking as the way to go. For him, it seemed self-evident that one who thinks negatively, is going to have less of a problem in life than one who thinks positively. Personally, I disagree. You see, in my household, I am the optimist, and my wife is somewhat of a pessimist. It seems, however, that Ainan has inherited more of my wife’s disposition, on the matter, if he spoke autobiographically. I think this is a bit of a pity since there is something about optimism or positive thinking that my son has overlooked: an optimist will always give something a try because he or she believes there is a good chance of success, if one does so. The pessimist, on the other hand, may not try some particular endeavour having convinced themselves that they will not succeed, so why bother?

Luckily, Ainan’s devotion to “negative thinking” does not appear to be strong. In fact, I wonder if he was endorsing it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. You see, Ainan is always trying new things and creating new things. So, he is certainly not held back by the typical pessimist’s attitude to such efforts. I think, therefore, Ainan was just observing that if you think negatively then you avoid one potential consequence, each and every time: disappointment. I don’t think, given the way he actually behaves, that he was relating how he actually thought.

With Ainan, now, there is a tendency to coin punchy phrases and one liners. Yet, these may not actually describe his personal view on the world, but more of his perception of certain understandings that appeal to him, in an aesthetic way. By this I mean that he likes the sound of the thought he has expressed, but doesn’t necessarily hold it for himself. He is playing with thoughts and ideas and seeing which appeal to the mind.

I shall enquire more as to this attitude to negative thinking, in time. For now, I will say only this: if he holds some degree of negativity, it could be allied to his tendency to be self-deprecating. It is another part of his tendency to downplay things. In this case, downplaying the possibility of a positive outcome.  In all, it adds up to a more sober less exuberant view of the future and the world. Perhaps, actually, this leads to a certain “level-headedness”, in that he won’t get carried away with possibilities, but will seek to estimate actualities instead...or perhaps even underestimate them. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on his choices in life. At this time, it does not seem to hamper him from experimentation and growth in any way. I remain watchful.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 4:01 PM  1 comments

Sunday, September 02, 2012

The challenges that gifted people face

One of my articles: "The challenges that gifted people face", has been published, today, in The Star, Malaysia's largest circulation English daily newspaper, (at 1.286 million readers during the week and 1.175 million readers on Sunday).

Please find the link here: http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2012/9/2/education/11921793&sec=education

Let me have your thoughts below upon reading the article.

Thank you.

Posted by Valentine Cawley


(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

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posted by Valentine Cawley @ 12:26 PM  2 comments

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