Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy how to talk about your gifted kid

The worst is having our child's teacher, after hearing DS already knows all of the required sight words as well as 1st & 2nd & 3rd grades etc, and being looked at with skepticism~ and a blank dismissive nod. then later being told to not push DS etc, let him be a kid, etc... and that yes, the "review" will be good for DS, and give the rest of the class time to catch up. WOW. ok.

It never fails to surprise me how the teacher we put so much trust in to teach our kids for 6hrs each day, and guide them through social situations etc etc--- really fails.

Somehow having other parents be skeptical? It doesn't bother me so much as having a teacher be that way. You'd think the TEACHER would be the child's ally and encourage that love of learning... guess sometimes it doesn't pay to think, huh?

I've been faced with this a lot lately because we have been trying to sell our house and the choice of city for our new home relates to the school we applied to get our son into. The house buying/selling has been a saga for the last year so people at work have asked me about it. Having to explain we are trying to get our son into the gifted school leaves me feeling like I kind of have to "prove" that he really does qualify to go there and I'm not just a crazy parent pushing her kid.

In other situations, I try not to give too many specifics about what he does if I can help it. Always depends on the audience as others have said. The most tiptoeing has to be done around parents with kids of a similar age. I usually go for the angle of how much of a challenge it is and it's not a cakewalk having a GT kid.