I am thrilled to have a daughter as wonderful and gifted as she is. Daily, I feel blessed to be her Mother. But, oh what a lonely road it is!! Can't I just please... find one person... that doesn't care about what she can do... that doesn't see me giving the facts as a braggart? Or a bad parent? Ugh!
I could have quoted your entire post, as it has been my experience continually since my son was about 2-1/2. As I read the other posters' responses, one thought kept coming to my mind. It was that I would love the luxury of just walking away from "those types" and finding someone else who didn't care about such things. After dealing with this type of reaction for almost six years, I've only found one person --ONE! --with whom I could share anything at all about my son and not get "the look" or reaction that you spoke of in your post.
Upon reaching the end of the thread's responses, I thought, "Hmmm... seems like you (the OP) and I live in the same area." I then noticed that you have "The South" as your location. I too am in the South, so perhaps it's largely a regional issue. Are you in a more rural location? I've lived in a very rural area for almost 15 years and this high school mentality type of experience has been the norm. It's very tiring. The only people I seem to connect with, who seem to be secure and act like adults, are people who are transplants from other areas, though they aren't all "safe" either.
I'm sure that doesn't help much, but it offers an alternate theory and lets you know that someone else 'gets' your frustration. So sorry for the situation in which you find yourself. Maybe setting personal boundaries, as others suggested, is the way to go here.
