...to me the difference between a truly gifted child and a hot housed learner is that the gifted child is always at least 1 step ahead of where the caregivers are expecting (usually many, many more :)). The hot housed child is learning at or just below the expectations of the caregiver.
Opportunity will always allow a child to learn things that another child may not know, which is one of the reasons that low income and minority gifted children so often fall through the cracks and get missed in early identification programs. However, it is what the child does with the knowledge that points to the difference between high average and gifted. For example: Does the child point to an animal and say elephant at 18 months or does the child look at you and ask why does the elphant have a built in shower?
I think you've hit the nail right on the head, elh.
I agree that the difference between hothousing and true GT is the difference between memorization and understanding.
There's nothing whatsoever wrong with exposing kids to learning opportunities, but kids have ALWAYS been exposed to learning opportunities. Certainly those opportunities have changed over time, but that's not necessarily *better* learning, just different stuff. Is knowing all the instruments in the orchestra somehow "better" than knowing all the wildflowers in a farm's pasture? I'd argue no. It's just different.
I really think it comes down to the motivation of the child. Is she learning just to please you? Then you're hothousing. Is she learning because she can't NOT learn? Then she's GT.
And it is possible to have both GTness and hothousing at once. GT kids don't always want to learn all the time. Or they'll want to learn through play instead of through drill-and-kill. You can hothouse the love of learning right out of a GT kid. I really think it's generally better to follow the lead of the child.
I'm not a fan of "competitive parenting." I don't think what someone else's child is doing has much of anything to do with what my child is doing. I only worry if one of my boys seems behind what is normal, not behind what is GT, not behind what the neighbor kids are doing.
<shrug>
