I’ve encountered this Ted Talk and I thought some of you might enjoy it.
The Talk is about why babies are so good at learning new languages and why we - grown-ups - happen to struggle so much.
After watching the video, I said to myself “I wish I was 3 again” 
But we have an advantage upon children that is more valuable than their brain’s plasticity. Our commitment to study something and handle long hours of it. By no means a normal children would do that instead of just playing.
But sometimes I feel like you, I wish I could learn by just listening and nothing more.
I kinda wish my parents exposed me to many different languages when I was a baby
I guess if by “genius” you really mean : requires 24/7 full time tutoring by multiple tutors, and 15,000 hours full immersion before even very basic level, then maybe so.
Babies and children would have to be the worst language learners on the planet for return on time invested.