It’s back-to-school season, but instead of Nick Cannon and Brittany Bell’s son Golden Sagon going into second grade like his peers, he’s entering fourth grade instead. The 7-year-old may be a mini prodigy, as he’s already “advanced” for his age, according to his proud mama!
“Back to school for all of us!! My bright babies!!” Bell captioned photos of Golden and his younger sister Powerful “Pow” Queen, 3, who is starting pre-k. (Bell and Cannon’s third child Rise “Rizzy” Messiah, 23 months, is also in a photo, although he isn’t in school.) She added, “Golden is 7 in 4th grade (yes he’s advanced and yes his emotional intelligence matches his cognitive intellect) and our Pretty Pow is already in Pre-K big kids class! Weee so proud!! ????????”
In her caption, Bell also mentioned how Golden “ran for and was elected as his class representative” in third grade and how her daughter is already “quite popular.” She added, “They are doing well — can’t wait for this year and what they will do!”
Golden started first grade three years ago, when he was just 4 years old. Bell shared a picture of his first day of school back in Aug. 2021, explaining, “he skipped kindergarten and Pre K — he’s soaring in learning and emotional development so let’s just praise God and clap for this bright Golden boy!!”
As someone who started first grade at 5 and graduated high school at 16, I’m not a huge fan of allowing your children to skip grades. While his “emotional intelligence” may match his peers in elementary school, will the same hold true when he enters middle school and his friends are starting to go through puberty, yet he is still a couple years behind? What about in high school as everyone is learning how to drive and getting their first jobs, and he is still just 12 or 13? In my experience, it was hard always feeling left out and younger than everyone else in my grade — yet kids my age felt so much younger than me in earlier grades. It was hard to find anyone to relate to and was extremely isolating, continuing as I went to college before I became a legal adult, and graduated before I was old enough to legally drink.
The research is mixed on this, with one 2016 study by John Hopkins University finding that “millions of American K-12 students are performing above grade level and are not being appropriately challenged.”
On the other hand, Jessica Lahey, author of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, told the National Education Association, “The line between truly gifted and a parent’s subjective perception of gifted has blurred. In an age when ‘average’ is a dirty word, more and more parents want to view their children as gifted and subsequently pursue acceleration as the next logical step. Truly gifted children are exceedingly rare, and grade acceleration should be equally rare.”
Either way, this is a very personal decision, and should be made with the input of your child and their teacher’s opinion. And if you are pushing too hard for your child to advance, they will show you. The Child Mind Institute suggests looking for signs of a mood change in your child, days where they are more irritable than not, and extreme tantrums around going to school among other things. In this case, you may need to take a step back and reassess your approach.
Nick Cannon has a dozen kids — here’s what we know about each of them!
