Wow, this really is an interesting discussion! I love all the "naughty smart kid" stories. :-)
As for my own gifted baggage ... well, it's kind of interesting. Both I and my older sister are identified HG; she's two years older than I am, and her IQ score is 2 points higher than mine. We both skipped second grade. And there, the similarities end.
My sister was a high achiever -- she cared about her grades, and she worked to do well. She was at the top of her class in high school, graduated valedictorian from our fairly exclusive all-girls Catholic high school while taking calculus at the state university, and went on to graduate cum laude from Yale. She's finishing up her doctorate this year -- in Germany.
Me? Well, I was sooo bored and really couldn't care less about my grades. So I stopped working. I did *not* do any more homework than required -- and often didn't even do that. I didn't study; I read over the material the day before the test, and that was it. I usually didn't even read my text books.
I still did well in high school, very well on my ACTs, and got to live in my sister's pretty fabulous shadow -- I got away with a lot more than I would have had she not preceeded me! I went on to college and got one, and then another, bachelor's degree.
The problem is, I don't feel like I've earned anything in my life. I've coasted. I don't know half what I *would* know if I'd put any effort into pretty much *anything.* But I didn't -- because I didn't have to. Even into college, I did the bare lazy minimum, because I could.
I never had a work ethic instilled and this, I think, is what I worry most about with ds5. He hasn't had to really struggle to do anything well (well, except Super Mario Galaxy, at which he is exceptionally persistent). And I don't want him to learn that it's ok to coast on your laurels. I want him to actually have to strive for something -- and earn the feeling of accomplishment when he masters a new skill or gets to that next level.
And that's where, for me, acceleration comes in. I was accelerated one grade. I wish it had been two. My grade skip was very unemotional, and not a very big deal in my life, so I have a pretty positive opinion on grade skipping and acceleration. I can't help but think, if I as a highly gifted child wasn't really satisfied with one grade skip, how on earth is ds supposed to be happy and learn to strive with no grade skips or one grade skip? He's certainly beyond the level I was at that age.
And quite honestly, I do wish I had been "pushed" -- or at least encouraged -- more as a youngster. My parents were very hands off due to a number of family issues and pretty much left my sister and me to our own devices. She had internal motivation for academic success; I did not. A little guidance would have gone a long way.
So my major concern -- and this is my baggage -- is that ds learn to struggle and conquer, whether at academics or athletics or music or *something*!
