11 Signs Your Kid Might Be a Genius

You’re pretty confident your two-year-old is leaps and bounds ahead of her peers (did you see the way she navigated the wooden maze at the playground?!), but you can’t be 100 percent sure until she’s older…right? Actually, according to the National Association for Gifted Children, there are at least 11 signs of genius potential to pay attention to between the ages of two and four. (Take notes.)

1. They have an impeccable memory. Like the fact that you’ve served chicken nuggets for dinner three times this week. Whoops.

2. They start talking at an early age and have a large vocabulary. By 15 months, they should be saying words, sure. But especially gifted children are speaking in sentences, phrases and metaphors much earlier than other kids their same age.

3. They ask probing questions. For example, why did the cow jump over the moon?

4. And have a really good attention span. They’re only two, but they sat through the full hour and 45 minutes of Finding Dory, no problem.

5. They have a wide range of interests. They love music! And building blocks! And yoga!

6. Or they tend to focus intently on just one area. They’ve checked out every single book about dinosaurs from the library at least once.

7. They’re idealistic, but also have a sense of justice at an early age. “No, it’s not fair that baby brother got to eat six M&Ms when I only had five.”

8. They’re early readers. If, by the time your kid is in preschool, she’s reading chapter books like Amelia Bedelia or Frog and Toad, it might be a sign that she’s extra, extra intelligent.

9. And have vivid imaginations. For example, a vast--and complicated--network of imaginary friends.

10. They’re super alert with lots of energy (even as babies). This is different than a toddler who’s hyperactive. It’s about focus (aka they don’t retire with boredom if their ages six-plus Lego project takes over six hours to build).

11. The best part: They have a great sense of humor. If your two-year-old is telling jokes and coming up with puns that make you laugh out loud, it’s another sign of a gifted future. (But FWIW, even our non-gifted children make us laugh about every 20 seconds.)