Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Jumping around areas of interest

This is so my 9 yo son as well. For a while this year it was Rube Goldberg machines. Then magic. Last year it was greek mythology. First grade pokemon. On and on and on!

We've chosen music as our "stick with it" thing and it has worked very well for both our kids. They both enjoy it most days. And my 9 yo has enough mastery now that I highly doubt he would want to quit. We'll see how it goes for the teen years!

JJsMom -- I love finding out how non-unique I am (except I can't read music...) The other day a friend of mine complemented me and I said "Thank you," in a kind of brusque way, because what the heck do you do with complements, and he said "Well, it's true," and I said "Thank you," probably even more rudely, because it's all I can do... Like, come on, you know I can't take a complement. I'm being as civil as I can about it... I guess it's because I only feel like I deserve it if it's something that I had to work hard at?

Cat -- Thanks for reminding me that a lot of this is the parent's issue. And, in the scholastic world, a lot of it is "the system". I find myself doing things re my dd just to follow the status quo and then I realize, "Wait, thisis dumb. I know this is dumb. She doesn't like it, I don't have to do it, so we're stopping now." But, it doesn't just apply to the "system" but to our own personality/parenting styles.

My DS7 is the same way. He has mini-obsessions with virtually every subject under the sun. He generally spends a couple of weeks on something, then moves on to something else.

ME TOO! Exactly. I have come to accept it as just the way I am. It is more of a knowledge thing. I like to explore whatever it is until I am satisfied (whatever point that is) and then it is on to something else. I really don't think there is any way to reign it in.

Your question reminds me of the book, Refuse to Choose, by Barbara Sher. She talks about how some people are "divers" who stick to a single interest for years and years (as I have been with gifted education for the last 30 years), and some people are "scanners" who move from interest to interest. They never have a need to perfect anything. Once they think they understand it, they want to move on to the next thing. Many gifted people also have "multipotentiality" and it is hard to make a choice from all their possibilities. With a young, gifted child, it is probably healthy to have many interests and to be so curious that he doesn't mind moving from one area of interest to another. I am a university professor in gifted education as well as a coach for parents of gifted education, and it is clear that we need to be careful not to over-analyze all our children's behaviors.