We've found that questions and comments from other people tend to ebb and flow. We are private people so there was only one person who knew we were considering the acceleration before it happened. (Turns out she's a competitive blabber-mouth, but we didn't know that then.) We felt no need to tell anybody anything.
It took several weeks for people (only parents of kids in my DD's age-appropriate grade) to start asking questions, and we just told them that it was a very lengthy and involved process that required a series of assessments and questionnaires. Some people wanted to know how it could have happened, other people made more obnoxious comments like, "So, is she not bored anymore?"
The year after the subject acceleration DD just skipped completely into the higher grade, and we got more comments from parents from the original grade, but none from parents in the receiving grade.
But just now, this year (a year after the skip) parents of the receiving grade have started asking me about it. The comments and questions are different though between parents with kids in the former grade (snarkier, in general) and parents of kids in the higher grade (interested but supportive).
I think the parents of kids in my DD's current grade hear from their kids that DD is a good student so they don't question the appropriateness of the placement. They are just merely curious about it. The parents of the kids in the former grade don't know just how far about grade-level DD was, so they do question it.
What I get the most of is people feeling like they need to take every opportunity to tell me how smart and bored their kids are in class. I guess maybe they might feel like I understand their plight. But, it gets tiring and seems, in most cases, competitive. In general, IME, the people who loudly and publicly ask about my DD or talk about their kids are competitive, but the people who quietly ask me or talk to me about their children are more likely to be in the same situation we were with their kids needing more.
Of course, we get the rare parent who will say something like, "Well, they wanted my child to skip a grade, but we said no way because it's so bad for them socially and . . . " and then they go off on a tirade about how we've made a horrible decision that they would NEVER make. It's ruined a friendship and made others awkward, but just has to go in one ear and out the other.
It's a tough situation that for us seems to come and go, but I've been trying hard lately just to talk matter-of-factly about it ("Yep, it happened.") IF people ask me. Still, I find myself really just having to keep quiet about anything school or age related whenever possible. But, you know, we're very secure with our decisions and we've seen how great it's been for our kids, and any awkwardness is totally worth it.
