Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Were you a "smart kid?"

Yep that is me, smart.

Read Kriston's blurb and it pretty much has me pegged. I early admitted to K, skipped midyear from first to 2nd. I knew everyone, got along with everyone, perpetual volunteer.

That's a good question.
I did good in school but I studied.
I am not gifted nor is my husband.
I do have a 1st cousin who sounds like he was just like my DS reading at 3 skipped 4 grades etc.
So there is someone in the family like him but not his parents LOL

Yes. My 5th grade teacher pushed my parents to test me to see if I was gifted, and they didn't. I got "lost" in the system. I refuse to let that happen to either of my kids, but most especially DS.

Yes, I was. And I feel like I'm currently living a parallel life with my DD6. However, we've got some very good plans in place at the public school for DD. For me though, I went to private grade school and HS. Everyone knew of me as the smart kid. I never ever ever studied or was challenged in anything through the 12th grade. Even my AP Classes - I never studied for them. I felt like I didn't belong and never really had an identity.

Then I went off to a Big Ten school for Engineering and fell hard. My first few years there were extremely difficult -- I was that textbook GT kid who was never challenged and didn't know how to study. It took me until my senior year in College to figure it out.

Then, right after college, I moved to to the East coast for my job. The region we lived in felt the opposite of a "brain drain." It seems that all the smart people are there. I felt like I belonged, had mentors and knew where I was going. I didn't realize at the time it was because I was with my "intellectual peers." I thought it was just because we were all "mature adults."

Well I was wrong. I moved back to the Midwest a little over a year ago and it sucks. I hate it here. I had a job for a while and I felt like everyone I worked with were idiots. I found myself back in that same place as I felt in grade school and high school. I was miserable and and at the same time felt like a pompous jerk for having that attitude toward my coworkers.

For now, I quit my job and have decided to return to grad school.

Does the "problem" of being a gifted child ever end?

Becky, maybe I need to move back up north (I live in the southeast now)! I could've easily written the first two paragraphs you wrote!

yes, I was. I was incredibly shy and read all the time. My parents called me "the unawakened brain" (thanks a lot, folks)

But I don't think I've really processed my experience as a gifted child in a very rural area until my children came along and I have had such insights (!) finally (!) about myself.

Even though I realize MY experience is MY experience, I will do everything I can to ensure my children will not go through what I did.

We're moving to a metro area in April so they will have more opportunities!

Yes, I was

I was/am. Now I am sixteen and have joined this forum to look at what parents and kids are doing and learn about advocacy. I want to make it my career in a few years.

Yes I was. In high school I knew how to "ace" a test without throwing off the almighty bell curve. I also knew how to "skip" without getting caught and avoid the "nerd" term. Yes I was smart and beat the whole system. I am determined to give my kids a better chance.

When I was in middle school we lived in Germany where they noticed me and my potential. I was hand selected to go on to advanced math and science. A move back to the states had the German school board calling my parents and sending several visitors to try and talk my parents into letting me stay. My parents refused for their own selfish reasons and hence the above paragraph about my high school experience in the states.

I do plan on not letting that happen to my kiddos. My DH's brilliance is under radar. He refuses to believe he is as gifted as he is. His spatial reasoning abilities blow me away. He was a C/D student throughout school until college where he decided to get A's.

I was but all it got me was the angst of my teachers who had to watch me throw it all away. Without the support of good parents it can take a long time for a kid to realize how lucky they are and take full advantage.