Wow, I've been out of town for 4 days and I come back to a very busy board! How great...but now I need to do some serious catching -up!
Its been really interesting reading everyone's posts. Its always refreshing to read something that you could have written yourself. It let's me know that I'm not alone!
I always knew I was different as a child. I think I was more adult than child, if that makes sense. I was always very aware that I saw things very differently than other kids. I entered K at 4 and after some testing they suggested skipping me to 2nd grade. My parents refused. I was already young and I happened to be extremely shy and so they thought it was in my best interest to stay where I was. School was very easy but after a while I became complacent. I never pushed myself, never lived up to my potential. Maybe it was boredom? I easily got decent grades but when I applied myself I would ace everything. Hind sight is certainly 20-20 and looking back I know I know that I should've done so much better. Anyway, I also think I was hiding from the "gifted" label.
It doesn't make sense with respect to how I handled school but I am also a perfectionist. I've had to check that when I'm doing things with the kids, though. Its ok to make mistakes and my kids need to know that and so I work hard at not putting that expectation of perfection on them!
I think one thing I take from my experiences as a "gifted" child that benefits me in raising my GT dd is that I teach her to not feel like she has to hide her giftedness. She knows she thinks differently than other kids and that its ok. She also knows that everyone learns things at different times and to never make someone feel bad for not "getting" it as quickly as she does. She is very comfortable in her gifted skin (
) and it allows her the confidence to do what she loves without holding back...and for her thats her love of learning.
