There are few worse things you can tell a child than these words:
You’re so smart.
or
You’re so talented.
or, perhaps worst of all:
You’re so beautiful.
Everything is subjective.
As smart and beautiful as a child may be to its parents, the chances are they are somewhere around average.
Telling a child that they are special only leads to their shortcoming.
Thinking that they have some god-given edge will likely result in them being less talented or smart than they could have been.
Even if it’s true in their current surroundings, the world will quickly place them on the bell curve, likely somewhere around the middle.
There are some incredibly smart, talented people.
The rest of us have to get up earlier in the morning.
And work a little later.