This is all conjecture, but after observing my son and his friends, this is what I think:
I think that all children vent a bit when faced with work that feel hard. I think it reminds them of earlier times when they had to work so hard, perhaps at learning to speak or walk, but couldn't talk about it.
Of course, most children become familiar and then trusting of the process of seeing something that 'looks hard' when they are quite young, and the venting looks age appropriate.
But if the child is more than usually bright, then they have much less practice with hard-looking things, from school work, to parents tricks (Hey Honey, should we stop at M-A-C-D-O-N-A-L-D-S on the way home, I'm too tired to cook.) to the TV and radio.
I think that at some point, ND kids just sort of 'give up' the idea that they are going to understand everything, and they certianly know that they aren't going to understand everything right away.
So a gifted kid might act like a much younger child when facing an actual challenge, because they have had so little experience with challenges so far. They might sound like a much younger child because they are more intense, and express everything more intensely. They might act more frightened of challenge because they expect to be able to understand everything - right now!
So - when DD starts to whine and complain, pat yourself on the back. She is getting vital practice. You probably had something to do with that.
Depending on your parenting perspective it could be really great that she feels comfortable enough to vent about it to you, and just figure that it's part of her 'job-description'
or
you could focus on what she isn't doing wrong, as in: 'Look at you, you are bravely plugging away even though you feel like giving up! You are handling your strong feelings of self-doubt really well! Everyone has self-doubt, but it shows great character that you persisit anyway!'
To me, the fact that she giggled after she got them, shows that this is a 'venting' process, because the expressions of self doubt are followed by trying (with or without encouragement from you) and then the release of giggling. She is clearing away the misconception that she must get everything instantly with every proud giggle.
I've heard that if a problem is interesting enough to spend time on, then by definition, the answer can't be known in advance. Sounds to me like you are raising a child who will be ready to work on interesting problems when she grows up. Yippee!
Grinity
