I had thought that Gold shall shine everywhere. If he doesn't shine, then he is not a Gold. As he doesn't shine in his class, I even doubted myself if he is gifted at all. The school teacher keep telling me that he is just above the average and I was wrong to push him to the accelerated math program...After the test I start read online to understand his difficulty, I start to realize that the child can NOT thrive if he is not in the right environment for him. I felt that I was so wrong for not understanding him and punishing him for every complain coming from school. A couple of nights ago I talked to him and told him that I am so sorry for what I have done due to inexperience in parenting him. I could not help myself from crying in front of him for all the guilt in my heart. He came over and hugged me. He said:” Mom, you don’t have to cry, you don’t!”
Hugs to you. I have this experience too. I harbor a lot of guilt for not understanding his asynchrony issues when he was younger. After my initial ummm, shall we say, "extreme parenting error phase"?, I started talking to him often about what I'm feeling and why and what he thinks and how we can work together when something seems confusing/too hard/too easy for him. He's my little, old soul.
This is a hard time for you and like others have, I suggest reading whatever you can, keeping in mind that some books will speak to you better than others. To take with a pinch of salt what doesn't seem right and hang on to the speaks-straight-to-the-heart books for dear life. Here are some resources that have helped me (books may be available at your library):
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/ - tons of articles for you to read. Great stuff here!
http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/browse_by_topic_articles.aspx - a number of helpful articles on parenting, asynchronus development, acceleration etc
High IQ Kids -
http://www.amazon.com/High-IQ-Kids-Collected-Information/dp/1575422611/Miraca Gross' study inspired me to accelerate my son in our homeschool despite my worries about "gaps in learning" -
http://www.amazon.com/Exceptionally-Gifted-Children-Miraca-Gross/dp/0415314917/There are many more...just search "gifted kids" or similar on Amazon.com (or your favorite online store).
