Do you have a lot of GT kids in your area? The "best" school district doesn't necessarily equal lots of GT kids--our district is supposed to be the best in the surrounding areas at least, and GT kids are leaving it in droves! But if there are lots of GT kids in the area, then it could be that your perspective is skewed upward. Do you have a large university professor population or a research lab around? It might just be that you're used to GT families.
It is certainly possible to hothouse kids to meet milestones earlier. It's just not recommended! Who cares if a 2yo knows 1 color or 30, really? Does it matter? Are we worried that the child won't learn colors eventually? If the child isn't into it, then why push on something so silly? I think that's just done for the bragging rights--or at my most charitable, out of a weird fear that the child is already behind in some imaginary race; ick! I think it's ridiculous.
And I definitely don't think that all that hothousing means that the books should be changed. Why make it worse?
It does, however, make a pretty good case for keeping the milestone checklists a secret from parents... :p
