I have always found it interesting that parents of normally developing kids are encouraged to provide a literacy-rich and number-rich environment and to make sure that their kids have the basic skills needed to enter schooling, but parents of gifted kids are accused of providing an enriching environment that has overprepared their childrend for schooling. Eventhough our school has seen my kids scores and has subject and grade accelerated them, it is often mentioned, as a way of negating the extreme scores, that we provide an enriching home life to them. All I do is read to my kids and take them fun places, just like everyone is encouraged to do, but it's used against me. So, unfortunately, even when people see what your child can do, people tend to try to explain it away to make the unusual things they are seeing in your child more usual and more in line with their expectations.
Couldn't agree more. Maybe it's just something about the American mentality that says acknowledging one person is intellectually gifted is somehow elitist or unfair, and therefore it needs to be explained away by unhealthy or pushy parenting. Strange that it's
perfectly acceptable for a kid to be athletically talented, and the parents are not necessarily accused of
hothousing the child's athletic gifts when they provide activities to further that talent -- that seems encouraged as long as the child enjoys the activity.
