The one that probably ticks me off the most is:
"Just let him be a kid".....
What does that even mean?????
Oooh, this is the worst. He is being the kid he is! To deny him the opportunity to explore what he loves, in favor of what others deem "age-appropriate," would be cruel. If he wants to read another tornado book instead of a beginning reader, who I am to stop that?
My favorite was when, at one of our many (in the end, pointless) meetings with the principal, K teacher and gifted teacher at ds6's public K, the principal made some comment like, "Well, he's only 5." And I replied, "Yes, but this is *his* 5, and we'd like to meet him where he's at."
Didn't work, but I still thought it was snappy.
It's almost worse, though, when people start asking questions about how you *made* learn. "Now really, how did you make him do that?" asked one uncle, after ds did a bunch of serial double-digit additions. Ds-then-5 was (unasked) keeping a running score for a game of peanut toss.
Or, last week, we stopped by ds6's old Montessori preschool to visit his teachers. One teacher was reading with a little girl, and finished the book; the teacher wasn't reading another story. The girl was probably an old 4/early 5, but was definitely bigger than ds. She had already chosen another book. She looked sad, and ds6 said, shyly, "I'll read it for you." They sat down and started to read.
Presently the little girl's mother arrived to pick him up; ds was reading to the attentive little girl. The mom smiled as she watched them, then listened. Then she looked at me.
"He's really good ... what grade is he in?"
"First," I said.
"Oh!" Then, "Do you work a lot with him at home?"
"Oh, no," I said. "He's just like that."
The mom looked very disappointed. LOL -- she doesn't know what she's missing!
