We kind of assumed our kids would be some level of smart because of apples usually not falling far from trees and all of that. DH and I have never officially been tested so we were a bit clueless in some ways about just how gifted we/they might be but I suspected that navigating the school system was going to be a little extra fun based on our experiences.
As for displays of unusual development - there were a few things that happened very young that seemed to raise everyone else's eyebrows which was our first clue. We quickly figured out to pretty much never talk about the things that our kids were interested in or doing except with a few very close and sympathetic friends. Other than that I can't say that it influenced any decisions. Similar to what aeh wrote above - my aim (regardless of the child) is to meet the child where they are and provide the broadest set of opportunities that I can. We'd try to dabble in as wide of a range as possible and then see what was of any interest (sports, music, science, arts, books, outdoors, etc, etc).
When they started school and we ran into issues then it definitely influenced our decisions around education.
