Smarter Than You Think: How to Identify Your Child’s Strengths from the Start

Smart is so much more than just letter grades, mama! Here’s how to identify and nurture your child’s strengths and talents to put them on the road to success

The end of the school year seems to bring a fresh set of stresses for parents worrying about where their kiddos stand academically, but take it from us, mama: your kiddo is smart!

Ever heard of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences? Developed by a Harvard education professor in 1983, it posits that there are seven or eight different kinds of “smart”. Sure, some kids are “word smart”, but others are “body smart” or “people smart” or “logic smart”.

Identify your child’s particular strengths, and you’ll have a better idea of activities and subjects they might gravitate towards. Helping your child realise their true passion can lead to a happier life than solely focusing on letter grades.

One way to help your child discover their strengths is through the MIDAS™ (Multiple Intelligences Developmental Assessment Scales) tool, which can help parents and children gain a deeper understanding of a child’s capabilities. With their KidSmart Programme, UOB is the only bank in Singapore to offer parents the MIDAS™ tool. All you have to do is log in to their website so kiddo can do it from the comfort of your own home, for FREE, mama (you can also take the test based on your observations of your child). It’s suitable for children as young as 3, and provides a dynamic, holistic profile that at once lets you play to their strengths, and identify weaknesses you can work on going forward.

After taking the assessment, these children were amazed and inspired to see how they could reach their full potential in life regardless of their academic performance. Parents were surprisingly heartened to discover this, too! Because as nice as it might be to see junior bring home an ‘A’, that feeling is fleeting, mama. On the other hand, what’s more gratifying than seeing your child be happy and truly thrive in their career, and indeed in life?

Click here to help your little one take the MIDAS™ assessment for FREE, mama, and be sure to check out UOB’s suite of KidSmart tools to help you nurture your child’s true potential: from setting up a Child Development Account to make the most of the Baby Bonus, to creating a Junior Savers Account that teaches the little one the value of saving, to the Income Builder to that provides financial stability in the face of market fluctuations, there’s much you can do to to support your child’s hopes and dreams.

It doesn’t hurt that UOB also offers sweet discounts and privileges for a wide range of enrichment activities, from music lessons to martial arts, computer programming to creative pursuits, all of which will help your child discover their true passion, mama.

It all starts with identifying your child’s strengths, mama. Here’s to a happy and fulfilling future for all of you!

www.uob.com.sg/kidsmart