Originally Posted by madeinuk
When a kid is going through a growth spurt and they are hungry all the time; is it not abusive *NOT* to feed them more?

The same applies for mental growth IMO.
Agreed! This brings to mind the all-too-common experience of gifted kids in school. Readers may wish to see the recent thread "How do you feel about the public school system?"

Originally Posted by madeinuk
I have done things that might be and have probably been considered 'hot housing' just by exposing my DD8 to things like logarithms and solving simultaneous linear equations...
Exposure provides an enriched and positive environment. The element of imposing an expectation on the child to learn above level, is present in hot-housing.

Originally Posted by madeinuk
... she has just gobbled them up.
While she is gobbling, she's not being hot-housed. When her attention or interests may change to something else... parents may wish to follow the child's lead.

I really like the observation several posters made that gifted kids essentially hot-house themselves. smile Unfortunately, the schools seem to be aware of this at some level... taken to the extreme, this may lead to the myth that gifted kids will do fine on their own, without school support, throughout their educational "careers".