Thank you for your comments
My son has definitely been bullied a bit, but has been able to deflect some of it by being a bit of a clown. He has been calling himself smart this year, but believes this to be a negative thing (despite what I tell him) because he believes this makes a person unlikable.
The other parents haven't bullied me, but I do think they may have enjoyed having the smarter kids before and now that we are 'competition' for them they are not being nearly as friendly. I am comparatively young, non-white and uneducated and maybe they didn't think that I would be the one to have the academic children. They always did treat me with a bit of condescension. They still like to remind me of how early their kids did everything, but at this point it seems so irrelevant. I know this sounds terrible, but I am skeptical of their children's giftedness in part because of the parents' apparent inability to think independently.
As far as hothousing, I don't think any of these parents that I know believe that they are hothousing. It is always somebody else that is doing the hothousing if you know what I mean. They believe that their kids have the natural gifts (even if they admit to you they used hooked on phonics) and it is the other ones who are pushing and pressuring.
I'm still don't know if my son is gifted or just bright, but I don't want him to give up when it seems like he is just beginning to take off. I want him to have the guidance and support to take advantage of what this country has to offer. I don't want him to 'try' to be average because that's what people in this neighborhood expect him to be.
