Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion You know you're parenting a gifted child when...

Your dd9 handles her AoPS work with adroit aplomb and only minutes later is happily engrossed watching some inane and completely vacuous 'puppy' film called Super Buddies (I could barely tolerate it myself).

Your 24 month old receives a gift-wrapped stuffed animal and before opening the package, proceeds to squeeze and release it while shouting " look mama, it's a LUNG!!!", and breathing in and out in exaggeration to make sure we truly get it..

...Your 2.25yo makes up his own language, uses it consistently (as well as the proper English word), and makes puns in it. For example, when in a silly mood, DS calls a large tendril of hair a "bumpable". He started imagining the hair as a sausage on a hot dog bun and declared it a "bunpable". He thought this was a great joke and ran over to tell it to Daddy, too!

...You find yourself conversing with your child in the made up language!

Oh, Aquinas, this is so funny and ummm...VERY familiar!

We recently visited a school with DS3, and I had to remind him to speak English instead of [insert his name]ish and introduce himself with his real name instead of character du jour.

... when you have to seriously limit your teen's caffeine intake. Why? Because excessive amounts... release the muse within... in which case it becomes VERY difficult for her to pretend to be normal. She turns into the "oracle" for (her terms) the Incan Lemur God. He speaks through her... and has ideas like Hamlet, the musical. It's like the Delphic Oracle, but-- er, different.

Of course, when she takes the brakes off like this, her brain works so fast that she is downright astonishing in her productivity, but it's like placing a Tiger into an airline crate intended for a poodle. Bit of a mismatch at this point in time, even in AP classes. I've quite literally never encountered another person like her.

I wonder how painfully tight-fitting her "normal" suit must be, having seen underneath it in these glimpses of furious intellectual passion.

That must have been both hilarious and unnerving, EmeraldCity. How did the visit go?

This is exactly why I'm reluctant to have DS tested early. I can fully envision him messing with the tester, answering in some sort of coded joke, and getting zeroes across the board as a result. I have a feeling it will only intensify!

Aquinas, sent a PM to you about the visit.

I'm glad I'm not the only one whose child changes names daily (hourly?) and generally renames everyone in her vicinity as she goes..

In DS7's science class they are talking about solids, liquids and gases. Yesterday the teacher had ketchup, mustard and syrup and they were talking about which would flow the fastest and what changes the rate that liquids flow. DS's contribution to the discussion - hit it. The teachers were puzzled so DS said, well if it is a non-Newtonian fluid it will behave like a solid when you hit it and it won't flow. The teachers then looked even more puzzled and said there was no such thing. I feel kind of bad for his teachers. The curriculum doesn't prepare them for the stuff he's learned on youtube.

lol, I can so see that scene.