Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy not old enough...

I was just thinking about how hard it is on our kids when they aren't old enough to do things that they are able to do. So many things are based on age it is quite annoying.

We had "arithmetickles" come to DS5's school for a night program recently. I thought this was right up his alley since he LOVES math and could get up on the stage, etc. So they start the program and ask for 5th grade volunteers. They do this number game type thing and DS is intrigued but wants to join in. He of course can't get up there (at one point however he yells out the answer to a 5th grader that was stumped). So they go down by grade and by the time they get to first grade DS raises his hand and gets to go on stage. He is excited to do some math and then realizes that his job is to stand there and hold something. I guess that is all first graders can do. It just made me sad for him. There are so many things like that. Books that are at the older kids libraries that we have to have sent to his school library, chess club, math club, spelling bees that he is not old enough to participate in. We have found some things that he can, but it still frustrates me at times. Anyone else have children that struggle with this and get frustrated? It is hard to explain to them why they can't do things.

Oh that is so annoying to me! I wanted to sign my DD up for a camp last year and they wouldn't let me because you had to give a birthday. I know many parents lie to get there kids in to things and depending on what it is... okay, I can see it can have an educational opportunity for the child etc. but.... it's really frustrating. I wanted my daughter to enter a contest too and emailed to ask if she was able to do it and they said no, the age was for the HS kids who didn't know what grade they were in?! HUH?! That's lame! It's hard. I just try not to make a big deal out of it and tell her... next year though I really want to say.... THAT'S DUMB! haha!

Very frustrating bh14, it is hard because I definitely am not going to lie to get him into something either. And he is a stickler for rules when it comes to guidelines like that anyhow, he would probably loudly say something like "but mom..I am not 7 yet!" LOL. We are looking into him doing a summer camp for maybe a week this year and we thought Camp Invention would be great....but then you have to wonder if it will or won't be because they are grouped by grade. It sounds good though. I need to post a thread to see if anyone else has ever done camp invention with their kids and whether it was a good fit or not.

I agree.... my DD is a rule follower to a T too and would totally say that out loud to me! HAHA!

We've been really lucky in that all of the camps and extracurricular programs I've wanted to enroll my son in around here go by grade rather than age. Because DS5 started kindergarten a year early, he's now entitled to enroll in lots of other things that wouldn't be open to him if he had started school on time. It's yet another reason why I know it was right to start him early. When people ask me how old he is, I've learned to respond with, "He's in kindergarten" and avoid the age issue altogether (although it's easier now that he's at least turned 5).

shellymos,

About Camp Invention, it might be worth a shot to ask the local camp director if your son could be in the older group. It really is up to the local director. It was a different situation in that the camp director here was my DD's 2nd grade teacher, but last year she let my DD be in the older group since she knew she was ready for the more advanced stuff. Perhaps you could volunteer to provide your local director with letters of recommendation from you son's teachers.

But, I totally agree with what you are saying. I remember being very upset about age restrictions when I was growing up, particularly since virtually all my friends were older than I was. We've run in to that quite a bit with my kids, too. One time it was even the GT director who refused to let my HG DD into a summer camp that was for kids entering the grade that same GT director had just accelerated my DD into. I always ask about an exception to the rule if there is an activity that my DD would like to do, and I explain the age/grade descrepancy, but I'm only successful about half the time.