Ridiculously talented little kids

Ridiculously talented kids are a double-edged sword: we marvel at their skills but we worry about the instant exposure that's now possible on YouTube with the click of a mouse. Here's some amazing kids from around the internet - see what you think about their instant global fame.

Reality television talent shows have a lot to answer for. Not only do they flood our screens with manipulative network pulp, but they are the broadcast equivalent of McDonalds: packaged up so that you can digest them quickly, immediately gratifying but offering nothing substantial in the long term.

Until you see something like this:


Angelina Jordan is eight years old and the winner of the current series of Norway’s Got Talent. Here (below) is her original audition in which she appears to be directly channelling Billie Holiday; along with all the anguish and frustration that comes with being an African-American woman in the United States during the turbulent 1930s.  Except that you have to remind yourself, Angelina is an eight-year-old kid from Norway.


It’s bizarre, but beautiful.  And just a little bit unsettling.  Unsettling because she’s so exquisitely raw and talented and you worry what will become of her now that the global media machine has her in its greedy claws.

Five minutes of fame or a rewarding lifelong career?

Along with promoting talent, television talent shows like The X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent also promote the idea that everybody deserves their five minutes of fame.  Further to that, they seem to be promoting the value that fame itself is a noble life-goal.

So what should you do if your talented child comes to you and says, “I want to be famous”?

After all, it’s great for kids to set themselves a goal, but how can we separate out the notion of ‘fame’ from the notion of just working hard at a skill and achieving highly?

Kidspot’s resident child psychologist, Dr Justin Coulson, strongly advocates having conversations with your children about their goals and ambitions.

Within the conversation about fame, he says, the central question should be: why?

“Ask your child, ‘Why do you want to be famous?’ If it’s because they have something inside them that they want to use to connect with the world and make other people happy, then that’s the right reason.  But if it’s purely about how affirmation from the outside world will make them feel, then research clearly tells us, that is a hollow and ultimately unsatisfying way to live.”

In partnership with these talent shows, YouTube then spreads the instant fame across the globe like wildfire.  And like wildfire, this sort of fast-burning, easily ignited fame very quickly burns itself out.

Where does this leave an eight year old who just ‘wants to be a star’?

It’s bad enough to be kicked to the kerb by the fame juggernaut when you’re a young adult. But at eight? How will an eight year old process it when the world suddenly tires of her and moves onto the next YouTube sensation?

Justin says, “It’s the context that is most important here.”

“If their motivation is development and mastery of a skill or talent then every failure and setback becomes a learning experience. But if the goal is ‘fame’ or one million YouTube hits,  then rejection can be very personal and devastating. It becomes, ‘I’m not good enough’.”

Ironically, YouTube was Angelina’s entree into music. In an interview she talks about how she spent hours looking at music clips on YouTube and eventually came across some clips from The X Factor.  She asked her mother if she could audition.  Her mother (to her credit) said she was too young.  So Angelina set her sights on Norway’s Got Talent, where age is unrestricted.

As a result of TV talent shows, the internet is now overrun with clips of insanely talented kids.

Most of the ‘singing sensations’ favour overwrought tunes by big-voiced mainstream pop divas like Whitney Houston or Beyonce.  These sorts of kids, while talented, seem to be merely mimicking an adult performance, (albeit, to perfection).

Case in point, this beautiful little Ukrainian girl singing Beyonce’s signature tune from Dreamgirls.  Essentially a song about a woman who has been psychologically and sexually repressed by her domineering husband.  Age appropriate content?  I’m not so sure.


Should these kids be celebrated and pushed onto the global stage so early when they don’t even know what they’re singing about yet? Or should their parents hold them back until they are old enough to deal with the consequences of a sudden but ultimately unsustainable rush of worldwide attention?

How do you parent a ridiculously talented kid?

Justin says we should ultimately encourage goal-setting and ambition in our children but again, he stresses the importance of having the conversation to make sure they are pursuing their goals for the right reasons.

Once your talented child is on the path towards developing and honing that skill, he says parents should, “Be guided by (the child’s) curiosity and their desire to develop. Rather than pushing them, let them explore and do it for the love of it and be guided by their expression of interest.”

Above all make sure the motivation is about something inside the child that just has to come out and be expressed, rather than the desire for attention.

Speaking of something inside that has to come out: Check out this toddler singing the blues!

Personally I find it strangely fitting that a toddler would connect so deeply to the blues: where emotions are amplified and feelings are shouted out freely without rational thought.


Then there’s this ‘mini King of Pop’: an amazingly intuitive dancer taking his cues from another freakish natural talent, Michael Jackson.


And if you’re still not tired of freakishly talented kids, these two Latin dancers are a study in technique and finesse: pursuing excellence for its own reward.


(Video originally sourced from the Being Latino Facebook page)

What can we take out of all this for our own kids, talented or not?

The internet is a place of instant gratification.  It is the very embodiment of a hedonistic treadmill where we move insatiably from one pleasurable experience to the next purely to avoid stopping and feeling nothing.  It’s a landscape where a great talent is measured in ‘likes’ and ‘views’.  And our kids are wandering around freely inside it – surfing YouTube and Facebook and Instagram -  a lot of the time without us there to hold their hands.

How can we set this right for them and make sure their outlook on success versus fame remains grounded in reality?

Justin says, “It’s important that we instil in our children a desire to pursue something meaningful that contributes  to the world at large. In the context of having a great talent, that means projecting outward the happiness you feel when you’re singing or dancing or whatever it is you do so well.”

“If we can use our abilities to connect with people in ways that we personally find meaningful and ways that are making a genuine contribution, we will measure success and fame differently. As a result we will find a more enduring happiness that will last beyond the tally of our YouTube views.”

On that note, check out the ‘random dancing toddler’

He just loves dancing and he’s making everybody happy.  Hopefully he won’t be chewed up and spat out by the YouTube machine. Because in this moment right here, he is the embodiment of an internal joy exploding out into the world and sprinkling us all with happiness.

(FYI: fast forward to 2:20 if you want to skip the talent show preamble and go straight to the dancing.)


Does your child have a special talent? How do you nurture it?

Read more on Kidspot:

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