Toddler joins Mensa after teaching himself to read aged 2 and count in Mandarin
Teddy Hobbs has a higher IQ than most adults.
A child genius who taught himself to read aged two has become Britain’s youngest Mensa member.
Teddy Hobbs can already read Harry Potter books and count to 100 in six other languages, including Mandarin, Welsh, French, Spanish and German.
The toddler, who was born through IVF, was admitted to the elite organisation aged three years and nine months last year after scoring 139 on an IQ test.
Parents Beth and Will Hobbs, from Portishead, Somerset, had no idea quite how smart Teddy was, and only got him assessed by ‘fluke’ to prepare him for school in September.
Beth, 31, said: ‘We did an IQ test, where we basically told him he was going to sit and do some puzzles with a lady for an hour, and he thought it was the most wonderful thing.
‘After he completed it we were told he was eligible by Mensa’s child advisor, so we thought he may as well join.
‘We were a bit like “pardon?”. We knew he could do things his peers couldn’t, but I don’t think we realised quite how good he was.’
She added: ‘We’re not sure how he ended up this way, my husband and I are not linguists. We always joke the embryologist must have slipped a needle or something to make him this way.’
Beth admitted Teddy’s genius comes with its challenges, as he shows little interest in games or TV.
She said: ‘My friends say, “Oh should we have some c-a-k-e?” and their kids will not know what they’re saying, but Teddy will immediately spell it out and want some.
‘You can’t get anything past him, he listens to everything. He will remember conversations you had with him at Christmas last year.
‘When we had our daughter we bought him a tablet so we could focus on her, but he was never hugely interested in playing games or anything.
‘He instead just likes to use apps to try and learn to count to 100 in Mandarin and other languages.
‘His idea of fun is sitting down and reciting his times tables.’
Teddy’s parents are trying to keep him ‘humble’ despite his intelligence to prevent him developing any kind of ‘superiority complex’.
Now aged four, the tot is apparently unaware how gifted he is compared to other children his age.
Beth added: ‘His friends can read a couple of letters of the alphabet, meanwhile he can read Harry Potter.
‘I remember bringing him into nursery one day and saying that I thought he had taught himself to read, and they didn’t really believe me at first.
‘Then they had a preschool teacher go and speak to him that day, and they just called me back saying “No, you’re right Beth.”
‘Obviously we don’t let him read Harry Potter, we pick more emotionally appropriate books, but he’s essentially at the stage where he can read anything we put in front of him.’
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