Over the summer, DD turned 8 and seemingly turned into a teenager. I had early clues in 2nd grade walking her to school, shocked to find her so easily embarrassed by me if I so much as walked or talked in an uncool manner.
Is this normal for girls, or gifted girls? She really seems to have taken the asynchronous development thing to an extreme, but academically she refuses to do more than the bare minimum. We sent her to a science camp which she liked, but the most important factor to her was the relationships and as always she had found someone older to cling to. The science part seemed an afterthought.
I'm already fighting off training bras, stopping purchases of short camoflauge skirts, wondering why she refuses to shop at Children's Place. She talks of moving out and living with her friend. She semi-secretly wants to be a pop star but won't submit auditions because she says she knows she won't win.
We figured out in 2nd grade that many of her anxiety and stomach ache issues that year stemmed from not feeling she fit in. She basically told us that on the first day she thought it was very childish just like 1st grade. On the other hand, when she told us a few weeks ago that she no longer wanted toys for her birthday, she was clutching her tiny stuffed puppy which she still takes everywhere.
This seems to be a trend. When I asked her what friends she felt most comfortable around, she mentioned a fifth grader. I honestly believe she self-conciously feels she doesn't fit in with kids her age and this has led to her being aloof at soccer, for example, or just not feeling right around her age-mates. Sometimes I look at her face or recall some of the more profound things she has said, and I get that sense of an old soul trapped in a child's body with a child's emotions. Will this ever even out?
I don't expect we will meet with much success advocating for a grade skip for non-academic reasons?
Thankfully we've put her in a 3rd grade class that has about 10 other gifted kids, so there's a chance she'll find someone like her.
Has anyone experienced this too? What did you do? I believe based on her IQ that if she would apply herself academically, she could easily skip a grade or two, but she won't do it due to perfectionism, and cannot endure bland or hard work. She has no academic passions. In fact she seems lazy, like a teenager.
