This is a hard thing to do for a 3 year old... older kids can link up on the Internet (CTY's Cogito site, for example, was HUGE for my D when she was about 12). But for little ones, much harder. A few questions:
- Is there any way to take a more extended vacation (not sure if you have a work schedule or something that needs to be accomodated) back to where you used to live? Say, a month in the summer? If she had that to look forward to, it might help.
- This is a tougher question, but are you obligated to live on the island for the duration of her childhood? Sounds like this is a kid who would benefit from a bigger pool of kids to draw from.
- If neither of these are possible (and even if they are), I think you will need to do what I did to a large extent with my D (now 15). I dug in and was her "friend" as well as her mom for several years until she found her own people on the internet and in late middle school/high school. I know more Harry Potter trivia, Lord of the Rings trivia, facts about owls, insect collecting procedures, etc. than I ever would have on my own! But it kept my D sane, I think (literally) until she could reach out more on her own.
- Does a pet make sense that she could help care for? For lonely kids, sometimes a friendly animal is a great comfort.
- Books, of course, are best friends for many gifted kids (they were sure mine!). Hard on the island, I am guessing (can you take a ferry or something to a larger town every couple of weeks for library stops?).
