My “genius” son, 2, is teaching himself Mandarin through YouTube videos

By the age of two, most kids are just learning to string together a few words – but one smart toddler from Essex is head and shoulders above most kids his age.

Bear King, from Southend-on-Sea, started talking when he was four months old and started reading when he was one, his parents claim.

According to his proud mother and father, he then learned the alphabet – both forward and backward – and could easily count to 100 and read complete sentences before he turned two.

Now he takes it a step further and amazes his parents by teaching himself Mandarin from YouTube.

Tiny Bear amazed his mother Ronnie Havis, 24, when he was just four months old when he started talking.

And now, at two and a half, Ronnie believes Bear can read at a six-year-old’s level.

Ronnie, a full-time mum, who lives with her mason partner Ryan, said, “I can’t bear to think of what we’re all in for by the time he’s in school.”

She added: ‘We encouraged it from a young age and always made sure his room was filled with educational posters and toys, but we really don’t know where it came from.

‘I had to teach myself phonetics. It’s not the same as when I was in school, Bear corrects my pronunciation.

“I point him to a picture of a bird in a book and he says, ‘No mom, that’s a quail.'”

“He’s obsessed with animals and nature, and now he’s starting to name them all in Chinese. It’s hard to keep up.’

Bear King amazed his mother Ronnie Havis, 24, when he started talking at just four months old and then learned the alphabet

Bear said the word mama when he was just four months old and is now considered to be as intelligent as a six-year-old

Ronnie claims that Bear spoke his first word “mommy” when he was just four months old – and was also sitting up unassisted at the time.

She said her advanced son took his first steps when he was about eight months old – which is about four months earlier than the average baby.

Bear isn’t the only bright toddler making headlines, after an 11-year-old Mexico City prodigy, with an IQ higher than Albert Einstein, began studying for a master’s degree in engineering.

Adhara Pérez Sánchez grew up in the low-income Tláhauc neighborhood and was often bullied at school for being autistic.

She was diagnosed with the developmental disability at age three after her speech deteriorated significantly. She was found rocking in her high chair and she started crawling very quickly.

She completed primary school at the age of five, according to Goalcastfinished middle and high school a year later.

The 11-year-old has also already earned a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from CNCI University and is currently studying a master’s program in mathematics at the Technological University of Mexico, according to Mary Claire Mexico.

She hopes to see NASA’s sights one day and dreams of exploring Mars. She is often spotted with the aerospace company’s logo on her Instagram, with a big smile on her face.

“My name is a star from the constellation Canis Major,” she said, according to Goalcast. “Wezen is right above Adhara. Aludra is located directly below Adhara.

“I want to go to space and colonize Mars,” she continued. “If you don’t like where you are, imagine where you want to be. I can see myself at NASA, so it’s worth a try.”