Saadia and Usman write about their experiences bringing up their sons, Wajih and Zohaib.
You can watch also a video interview with the Ahmeds, where they talk more about the boys' rigorous schedule and how they cope with criticism 'pushy parents'.
Wajih
Wajih started learning to count as a toddler. At the age of three he began getting to grips with the rules of addition and subtraction using plastic balls that we had bought for him, ostensibly for playing. With remarkable speed Wajih moved on to performing these sums on bigger 2-digit numbers with the help of his fingers, while developing the higher concepts of multiplication and division. His bedroom steadily got covered in wall-charts comprised of tables of numbers representing these arithmetic operations. He was encouraged to regularly look at these charts, absorb the information presented there and discuss those evolving ideas with us.
When Wajih turned five we started bringing home mathematics exercise books which he worked through at thrice the speed of a normal child. As he reached the KS2 level in mathematics at the tender of seven (when his peers were completing KS1), it dawned on us that if his progress were to be projected forward he could reach the A star standard at GCSE mathematics within two years.
Schedule of work
Treating this developmental activity as a formal project, we appointed the mum as the manager and the dad as the technical lead. We drew up a specific schedule for Wajih which was underpinned by an incentivisation scheme based around offers of financial rewards for systematic work and regular praises for specific tasks achieved, thus continually boosting his self-confidence.
The process then became self-perpetuating, in that each task completed was accompanied by boosts in intelligence, confidence and mathematical competence, and a raise in the bank balance, spurring Wajih on to put in even more effort to make further achievements, thus establishing a classic virtuous circle.
Zohaib
Heartened by Wajih's extraordinary academic successes, we started applying similar techniques on his younger brother, Zohaib, who enjoyed several advantages over his older sibling, ie having a source of inspiration in Wajih, an ardent competitive spirit to do one better and an additional family member to turn to for technical help. This has resulted in Zohaib reaching the same milestones in mathematics as Wajih but at faster speeds.
Currently Wajih is broadening his education to cover the three sciences, English and other softer subjects at GCSE and A' levels, thus setting further goals for Zohaib to match or beat.
Well-grounded childhood
Throughout we have ensured that, while the boys' intelligence, confidence and competence levels continue to soar sky high, as individuals they remain well-grounded to enable them to socialise effectively with their peers and the rest of the society. This is helped greatly by the fact that they continue to attend local comprehensive schools for their normal age groups.
The sacrifices we have made for our children, mainly in respect of our limited social life, have evidently been highly worthwhile.
Reactions from other people
Family, friends and teachers have been extremely positive and supportive of what the boys have accomplished.
In contrast, the first reaction from people who do not know the boys personally is one of shock or amazement, followed inevitably by queries about their social skills. Those that get to meet the boys or see them on the telly invariably remark on how normal they look. Almost certainly this is driven by people's general preconception that extraordinary academic achievement is somehow incompatible with an otherwise ordinary childhood.
The comments from total strangers on various media and social networking websites could sink very low indeed, from being merely hilarious and unconstructive to nasty and malicious. The boys tend to take all this feedback for what it is, being more of a reflection of the reviewers themselves than an indication of the true value of the boys' achievements. This is providing them valuable experience of handling other people's critique.
Challenges
While the local schools from primary up to the sixth form level have been generally supportive of our aspirations and endeavours, we have confronted (and continue to face) a number of challenges along the way, eg in searching for possible examination centres for the boys. However, through our willingness to be flexible in our approach and to actively seek compromises on detailed issues in the short term, we consistently strive to overcome any hurdles in order to continue our march toward the strategic goals.
Advice to other parents
The key message to other parents is that, the sooner we start building up the self-esteem, confidence and intelligence of our children, the higher will be their chances of becoming productive members of society when they grow up.
