Hi. I'm a gifted adult.

I was identified as profoundly gifted as a child; the reports said anywhere from 162 to as high as 'well above 180'.

Not to scare you too much, but I have a warning for the parents of gifted children:

It is profoundly tough for us to be alive and cope with the rest of the world.

I have my niche. I'm in science; I'm presently an undergrad, doing very well (high GPA, frequently on the Dean's List), and on the way to graduate school for neurobiology or genetics.

I have found my place in the world.

Nevertheless, here is a selection of what your children may encounter:
- the pain that comes from floating lonely in a sea of stupidity or ignorance with very little company
- the isolation
- the anger at the lack of nuance in the thought processes of the people around them
- the impatience with the slow thought processes of others despite frequent practice at being patient
- the fear of the possibility of the modern version of angry pitchfork-bearing peasants running after them for saying something that makes them look stupid or challenges their worldview
- the fact that the vast majority of people in the world are, quite plainly, morons. If you read the news, you'll know what I mean.

The mere fact that I have found a place where I belong and that I can achieve what I want to achieve is what keeps me alive. If this were not the case, I would have killed myself a long time ago from despair.
Dissuade your children, if they are inclined that way, from being one of those socially maladjusted, emotionally disturbed and bitter weirdos who does menial work, has to join a high IQ society or something to get any intellectual release (fun fact: most actual members of Mensa are a total pain in the @$$ to be around), and becomes totally insane - I hate those people, successful gifted people hate those people, and those people probably hate themselves. I had to work hard to get where I am and to be on the road to success. I had to grit my teeth, study hard, and get treated for depression that lasted from as far back as I remember to the age of 20. (I'm now about 22.) Work as hard as you can - and it is bitterly hard work; my parents worked VERY HARD to even give me the much-less-than-perfect environment I grew up in - to make sure your child succeeds in life.

This world is poorly equipped to deal with us (I have chosen not to have children partially because any child I would have would go through many of the same things I did, considering the heritability of intelligence, and I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself if I had a child who had such a high likelihood of going through it).

Last edited by ACh; 05/20/10 02:55 PM.