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Heather Skyler, April 2016

I don’t remember there being a lot of whiz-kid types around when I was growing up. There were kids with straight A’s and kids with dancing or musical talent. There was the kid who always excelled at every sport and the one who could answer almost any math problem. But I didn’t know, or even know of, any kids who started their own philanthropic foundations or set world records or had millions of YouTube subscribers.

Actually, YouTube didn’t exist, so scratch that one, but you get the idea.

For the upcoming March issue of OC Family magazine, we culled through so many exceptional kids from Orange County it was difficult to select just 10 to feature, and it got me wondering if there’s something in the soil here that didn’t exist in Las Vegas, where I grew up, or if some other unseen force is giving birth to these exceptional kids.

I decided that there may be a couple of factors involved.

More platforms for kids to showcase their talents

Anyone can create her own video platform on YouTube to show off a particular talent, or just a charming and goofy personality. Today, teens who are brilliant musicians or actors or just good at making videos can actually attract attention, gain subscribers and make money if they’re good enough. Nothing like that existed before YouTube was born in 2005.

I recall my sister and me spending hours making a tape recording of a movie we wrote called “Groovy Pig and Funky Grover” using our stuffed animals and our own song lyrics and script. It was an homage, of sorts, to “Saturday Night Fever” and “The Muppets,” and I can still remember the opening song, so it was at least catchy. If we’d had iPhones and a YouTube account, would we have garnered a following? Probably not, but we’ll never know.

YouTube, of course, isn’t the only new platform. Now there are famous Viners, Instagrammers, Snapchatters, you name it. The possibilities are vast for creative expression and potential fame.

Parents are more involved in shaping kids’ lives

Call it overparenting or helicopter parenting, if you like, but whatever name you assign to it, this new wave of involved parenting is dictating, more and more, what kids do with their free time.

A kid can have a great idea for a project or cause, but often, parental assistance is the motor that keeps it going. This could be one of the best outcomes of overparenting: Kids are actually getting to implement their big ideas because parents are so willing to help out.

Getting into college is more competitive

It’s no longer enough to be the valedictorian or the first flute in the honor orchestra to get into a top-level university. Now, a teenager must go above and beyond to be noticed. How can a student getting simple straight A’s compete with a boy who invented his own successful social networking site or a girl who started an educational foundation for kids in need?

I’m not suggesting that kids today only do cool things in order to get into great schools, but it’s likely in the backs of their minds. Or their parents’ minds. It has to be if an Ivy League school is the goal.

It’s exciting, even awe-inspiring, to see what kids are accomplishing here in our county, but I have to admit, it’s making me look at my own two kids with skepticism. Why are they just hanging out at Starbucks with their friends? Shouldn’t they be busy doing something more important?

But then I just feel lucky that they’re happy and kind. Those two traits are a good jumping-off point for any human. Besides, everyone can’t be a whiz kid.

Contact the writer: Heather Skyler is the editor of OC Family magazine. Email her at hskyler@ocregister.com