I just read a post by gratified3 that said:
"I guess I'm trying to say that I'm terrified raising these kids and if anything is vaguely working, I don't mess with it....I try really hard not to mess up "now" for what I fear might be coming."
I really identified with this statement. Balancing now and later and the basic fear of screwing up seems much more real and much more scary to me now that I have a sense of just how smart my son is. It all seems a lot harder, more overwhelming.
I know all parents worry about their kids, of course. (Re: the extreme cases of the "helicopter moms" who hover over their children everywhere they go!) I know that this may be my own perfectionism getting to me, and I just need to let it go. Of course, that's always easier said than done...
I guess I was just wondering how the rest of you who feel this fear of failing your kids--which I'm betting is a lot of us--are dealing with it. How are you balancing now with later? How are you balancing good enough with your own second-guessing? And how do you figure out in your own mind if what you're doing for your gifted kid is, indeed, good enough?
Philosophically yours...
