Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Do our kids burn out?

Thoughts?

Thought #1: Doing lots of math is different from doing competitions. Maybe the stress of competition ruined it for that kid. (Some kids thrive on it, but not all.)

Thought #2: What is wrong with that mom? "Oh, I just thought I'd ra-a-a-a-andomly tell you about a child who is like yours who came to a horrible end! No reason, I just thought you'd like to know!"

I would think that it would be possible for a pg person to burn out too.

I have seen PG adults burnout. But that has been in a field of work where the pressure is tremendous and people demand results on tight schedules.

My thought about that friend's child is that maybe that child really was PG. And even if his passion was not math, he was able to perform at a high level just because of his LOG. And then, by high school age, he figured out that math was really not what he wanted to do and decided not to pursue it. I have a nephew who is PG and pursued an engineering degree because his family expected him to. Now, at 24, he does not want to work as an engineer and is spending all his time composing music on his guitar and trying to write novels.

I was burnt out by the end of high school. You can perform at a high level just because of your high level of intelligence.

Because I was burnt out, I figure I only performed at about 30% of capacity in college (and law school, for that matter).

I obtained an engineering degree because it was free and my parents decided it was a good idea. I didn't have any actual interest in it.

Granted, I never really found any meaningful interests to pursue whatsoever, so I'm envious of the composer/writer.

Why are people assuming that there really was "burn out" (from excessive academic pressure). There could be other reasons an academically successful student fails to go to college such as drugs, alcohol, gambling, depression, family problems, medical problems, legal problems, etcetera.

Some people burn out once they've hit a certain amount of mastery as the thrill can be in the massive amount of knowledge assimilated early then no matter how gifted you'll eventually reach that flexion point and Pareto will kick you in the butt and you move to a new area. Though the drive-by cautionary tale sounds more like a locus of control sort of thing, or setting one goal and attaining it only to discover it's paper mache'.

What Zen Scanner said

What did Zen Scanner say?

I agre what Zen Scanner said.

My bf from H.S. is still that way. Reinvents her life approximately every 3 years, good thing she never wanted kids.