I'm new to the forum and I hope you don't mind I post about what it was like for me growing up. It's something that has always been on my mind but is resurfacing now that my 8 year old daughter tells me she thinks she is weird.
As a child I was definitely different, I could tell even at a young age. I grew up in a rural area where gifted wasn't really important but even if it had been I doubt I screamed gifted. Instead I was rather quirky. I can remember as far back as when I was 9 months old. I didn't talk til I was over the age of 4 and had to go to speech therapy. I had an obsession with school buses and I also was very fascinated with hospitals and the medical field. I started reading at a young age and never remember the process or struggle of learning how to read. I would also read anything I could get my hands on, encyclopedias, cereal boxes, Farmer's Almanac, history books, etc. My grandparents would always have a stack waiting when I would come to visit them. The library was my favorite place. When I was about 10 I checked out French dictionaries and French classical literature and began to teach myself French. Starting around age 8 I began drawing complex mazes and really enjoyed drawing geographical maps of imaginary countries, cities, oceans, etc.
In elementary school I was an average student and it wasn't until junior high and high school that my grades improved. I think it was because I was able to finally choose what I wanted to learn (geography, languages, art, and history primarily). I never needed to study for any tests and still managed to get A's in all my classes which for high school I didn't think too much of it but I was really surprised in college when other students didn't seem to get concepts right away like I did. I thought college was supposed to be challenging and it just wasn't for me, it was really no different than high school.
My thirst for knowledge hasn't ended, I still frequent the library to explore and learn about topics that interest me at the moment. I prefer conversations that have an intellectual or deeper meaning... philosophizing. I will think of things (make connections) and many times my friends/family will say they never looked at it that way or never even thought of those things (hard to explain but usually involving the bigger picture of life). I still can't seem to find satisfying friendships with others who share my interests of talking about real, meaningful subjects. My best friend is my sister because we seem to get each other. Although I would say she is probably the poster child for gifted. So we couldn't be more different from that aspect. LOL
I had never been a typical child and was many times called weird, even by my own family. I don't know what my IQ is (never tested) but I feel I can relate to others here because I have always felt different than my peers (still do) and never felt like I fit in.
