Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion DS8 took the sorting hat quiz...

Is this a Facebook quiz? In that case, ignore my previous advice.

Maybe it would actually be helpful to have your DS do a Facebook quiz. I took one, recently, something about "Which Celebrity Do You Resemble Most" and it seems like it said Beyonce (or something equally silly). This is just not true, by any stretch of the imagination--trust me on this one.

Maybe DS could take more ridiculous quizzes and find out how ridiculous they really are. Poor guy. (And of course he shouldn't be throwing things--sounds like his feelings were much bigger than his coping skills in that moment.)

I agree with Val. The issue here is the kid is throwing a tantrum and throwing things. I've been there with a child throwing fits. The kid needs to learn that this is NOT acceptable behavior.

a) Help the kid calm down. Whatever works for him/her sending my child to his room to be alone was my go to at this age.

b) Once calmed down & some time has elapsed. Explain calmly that this type of behavior isn't acceptable and at that time talk about the consequences of his behavior. Taking away computer/tablet privileges is a common consequence but you need to do what works for your family. I found it important to wait until we BOTH calmed down so that we didn't start another tantrum and I myself didn't throw out ridiculous threats and I couldn't follow through with.

c) Talk about why this is an overreaction. This isn't one conversation and is best done long after he has calmed down. How these quizzes are for fun and not accurate. How the different houses have their strengths. How he would write such a quiz himself. I find it funny that adults on this board are saying they went to the quiz and they are sorted as X. I've seen no less than a DOZEN different sorting hat quizzes over the years. There isn't one and they will all likely give you a different answer.

Standing and fighting in this case isn't so much doing the right thing as it is trying to stop the other guy from doing the wrong thing. Statistically speaking, a Hufflepuff is more likely to run and hide, since the stand-and-fight response is not a selection criteria for Hufflepuff, but it is for Gryffindor. As a primary selection criteria for an entire house, it can be predicted that the courage trait is generally underrepresented among the other houses.

Statistically speaking, the Ravenclaw is more likely to be an interested spectator, while the Slytherin (assuming they didn't start the fight in the first place) would likely monitor and prepare to take any action based on self-serving opportunities.

However, because people are complex, we can expect that anyone who tests highly for the traits of courage and empathy will join in the fight, regardless of their House (see Snape, Severus).

The official sorting hat quiz is from Pottermore, the official site for Harry Potter information. As far as I am aware, Pottermore has taken down the quiz on the site and will offer a new/updated version soon. However, the previous quiz has been copied to several unofficial websites.

Please try not to categorize me as an “adult” or any other thing, as though that would say any one or other thing about me. I am first and foremost I.


ETA:
From the article linked by George C, quoting from the book:

Not to put too fine a point on it... but I believe that the kid was already in his room, possibly working through his anger (which possibly hadn't peaked yet)? I didn't get the impression that the "what do I do?" was intended to be a "how do I discipline" question, rather more of a "how do I console" question. (Tigerle, please correct me if I'm wrong about this.)

I remember reading this article several years ago and it really struck a chord with me: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...ntrum-scientists-deconstruct-the-screams

Granted, Tigerle is talking about an older kid, but I think the premise is the same: anger peaks at some point, and that attempting to engage with someone when it hasn't peaked yet isn't constructive.

Back to the OP, your DS may take consolation in the reporting on this study, which showed that individuals who self-identified as belonging to a particular House and then took a more rigorous, science-based personality test scored highly for the traits related to that House, regardless of which House the Pottermore sorting test placed them in: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/harry-potter-house-personality-study/396491/

Maybe don't mention that the one group that wasn't consistent was self-selected Gryffindors... though personally, I think substituting "extraversion" for "courage" is a mistake there.

A relevant bit from the article for Nyaanyaa:


:-P~~~

I meant i am sure the OP is dealing with that problem already and doesn't need reminding. Just help with the current problem. I think hufflepuffs are wuite nice though. I may have to take the test. I wonder if it puts anyone at all in Slytherin.

Aha! Slithering! Underhanded tactics! Not the brains for Ravenclaw, but at least trying—ambitious indeed!

You must be a Slytherin!

I got hufflepuff too. Seems fine though i am a bit more academic than they appeared to be.

Wow, three pages on the Hufflepuff situation! Only on davidsons....
Sorry, did not mean to stay away, but we have all been down with a wicked wicked virus and DS8 is actually off school and on antibiotics now for a bacterial infection that has come in on top.

To clarify, yes, we are working expressing emotions safely and all that jazz, will take up CBT again when we are all back to working order. It is the intensity of the emotions, the way they appear to consume him, that floors me every time and makes me feel so helpless in trying to find ways of getting through to him. After all, he's going on nine and I was hoping for maturity to begin to help him with what should be minor disappointments, and every time he melts down and/or explodes like this over trivia it feels like back to square one.

I admit It is my fault for starting the Harry Potter obsession in the first place - he'd refused steadfastly, insisting he only liked "realistic" fiction (spaceships and Famous Five, ahem), but on a particularly trying "I'm booooored" day I made him go to his room and not come out until he read the first volume. He complied screaming and kicking, but Harry worked his magic within minutes. And I was happy that he was finally obsessing about something that had to do with people, and feelings and motivations, unlike, say, minecraft or the like. Yes, he created tables of spells and wonderful technical drawings of broomsticks, but he also grappled with questions of good and evil, loyalty and courage, guilt and redemption.

Um, I want to say that of course the sorting into houses thing is trite and the quizzes are silly but looking at it the way Rowling meant it it, ie the reasons for being sorted not your inborn qualities or talents (which an online quiz of course cannot elicit) but the traits you value, the choices you make and the aspirations you hold (which a online quiz can elicit) I think it is not quite as trite as some of you make out. I think one of the reasons DS8 freaked out was that being sorted into Hufflepuff, despite Dumbledore being his hero and role model, told him something about himself: he'd like to think of himself as daring and brave, but really values community, solidarity and fairness above the dreams of distinction and glory that Gryffindors hold. In short, whilst he is Dumbledores man, he's a little Hufflepuff, through and through!

However, he's accepted that simply wanting to be a Gryffindor rather than anything else is obviously good enough for the hat and will consider himself a Gryffindor for his upcoming wizarding birthday party (the reasons I looked for the ^%#* quiz in the first place! I'll think twice about doing any sorting at this party now!).

What helped most, though, was good old redirection of his mental energies: we had a family reunion and my niece brought out the old Harry Potter Cluedo I'd given her ten years ago. We have played it four times now in as many days (it takes quite a bit longer than ordinary Cluedo, what with the Dark Mark and losing house points and the doors and secret passageways shifting all the time) and he is hooked.