Knowing You Are Not Smarter Than A Five-Year-Old
A Geezer’s Notebook, By Jim Foster
Mensa member at five – That was the front page headline in the Toronto Star on August 18, 2026.
Five year-old Arjun Prajapati’s IQ is just shy of 150 which is fairly high even by Orillia standards. His parents, the father is a doctor and his mother, a lawyer, are justly proud of their son, and his membership certificates to Mensa and Intertel, two very selective high IQ societies. (I do find it odd one never sees many Smiths or Jones on their lists, one or two Fosters though, which is not surprising, and as expected, no Trumps at all.)
My own intellect was investigated at five, I believe after a meltdown in the kindergarten sandbox. Shortly after, we were notified I was not being considered for either society. The possibility of me later becoming a mental case that may need watching was mentioned in a registered letter.
Arjun is certainly a remarkable child. Somehow ‘child’ is not the right word. By his age, yes, but intellectually he is far above his age group. Yet he is still unmistakably five and in most ways thinks and plays like a little kid. He loves ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ (who doesn’t? I would too if I knew what it was) and plays board games with his younger sister. But he also solves math problems years ahead of his peers. Arjun takes physiology courses through Northwestern University’s gifted learning programme. (although in their brochures they spell ‘programme’ with one ‘m’ which makes one wonder how gifted their university professors really are)
It must be difficult raising a child of such high intelligence. His parents will want to encourage his intellectual pursuits yet at the same time allow him to lead as normal a life as possible.
You may be surprised to learn my parents never had to face those problems. I wasn’t completely stupid though, I was toilet trained by the time I went to high school with only the odd mishap.
To be honest I am in over my head with this column. I didn’t realize how complicated the subject would turn out to be when I started my usual blathering but now I don’t want to let it go.
I have to get serious here and borrow heavily from Anastasia Blosser’s well-researched Star article and the difficulties parents of gifted children face.
He is still in one of the most formative stages of childhood – making the question of how far to push his abilities, and when to simply let him be five, all the more consequential.
They (his parents, Vishal and Mahita) have chosen to follow his interests rather than accelerate his childhood, giving his curiosity room to explore advanced subjects while simultaneously protecting time for the things that have nothing to do with academic intelligence.
That balance can be particularly important to gifted children, said Ravinder Sidhu, a child psychologist who conducts assessments of students including those who qualify for gifted programming. Intellectual development does not necessarily move in lockstep with emotional or social development.
A child may be able to reason through a problem far beyond their age while still having the emotional maturity of a five year-old. That unevenness can become difficult when adults mistake intellectual ability for maturity in every area.
As his mother says. ‘At the end of the day, he’s like any other five year-old. He’s a son, a brother, and a normal friend to other kids. I just don’t want him to feel like he’s different.’
She and her husband are good parents and handling the blending of his intellectual abilities and normal childhood carefully and very well.
Odd, but I don’t remember my parents having this problem. Well, maybe with my sister. She is a registered nurse graduating from Toronto’s East General Hospital and was responsible for transforming the Manitoba health system into the modern medical community it is today. It was Maureen who first thought to warm the bedpans before sliding them under the shivering bums of her Winnipeg hospital patients.
(Image Supplied)
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