Ah! The "set in stone" shows up in 2 threads!!
I agree that kids, especially highly+ gifted kids, need to set and accomplish goals and make long term commitments to them. With kids with so many potentialities, it is imperative they learn to pursue specifics, too. I find in my own life that I tend to jump around looking for that intellectual stimulation high then once saturated with "enough" knowledge in a particular area, I get bored and have a difficult time sustaining interest and activity as a result.
So, both of my kids are in both short and long term activities. On the long term activities, we do not let them "change their minds". They are warned prior to making that committment that they must stick it out to completion.
However, we are not totally inflexible. They also need to know how to stop something that is no longer of good for them. So, we help them see when to quit and how to do it gracefully and with character.
And of course, we're not perfect. So, we've made mistakes in both areas.
:^) so basically I'm rattling on about something in which I have no wisdom!!!
