I tended to skirt the question when my kids were younger as well. It kind of is hard to explain in most circles that your 6yo is reading old obstetric textbooks and Sylvia Plath. Easier just to say "oh, I don't know, whatever she finds on the shelf-- she's not real picky".
That having been said...some parents will make it a contest no matter what, and some of those parents are parents of gifted children. You've run into one, and she apparently thought either that you were one and had just one-upped her, or that she was going to win the Perfect Child Competition and was miffed that she didn't.
My experience, fwiw, leads me to not engage if I can avoid it. But if they ask more than once, I won't downplay things, either. It doesn't do anyone a service to do so-- because as you discovered, it just prolongs the inevitable. And that's continued well past playground discussions, and into middle and high school. Only there The Grand Mommy Rollcall of Offspring Excellence is usually voiced as "yeah, well, Petunia, obviously, but who *else?"
Last edited by eldertree; 03/11/12 09:02 AM.
