Golly, I have been thinking about this a whole lot lately. DS12 thinks that he is about equal in giftedness to DH, and that his dear mother is 'the cute one.'

This may be true. It may not be. Part of me would like it one way, and part of me would like it to be the other...

In our family we each have so many different differences. How to compare one to another? Adults have so many fewer demands to be 'well rounded.' Personality makes such a difference.

This is why I'm always wanting to reduce the definition of gifted to 'having special educational needs' so I can move to a 'gifted is as gifted does' stance and say, 'if the kid's readiness level is 3 years above age peers, get him with subject readiness peers and let the future bring what it will!

This is why I limit my LOG to 'MG, moderatly gifted' (I know I'm more than that)
'PG'for 'as high as modern tests can measure' (I somehow doubt that I'm that, at least on any skills that current IQ tests measure.)
and 'HG' for in between.

So embarrassing to talk about 'what LOG I think I am' - even here!

So sad that the routine of school starts back up tommorow!

So don't leave me hanging here...fess up...anyone think that they are more gifted then their kid? as gifted?

sleepy smiles,
Grinity

DS6 seems to be much more gifted than I am. I plan to take the Mensa test in the next month of two but I am scared that I will not score high enough to qualify. HA!

I was "smart" as a child and I read everything I could get my hands on very early but the way DS6 approaches numbers and other abstract thought just amazes me. I feel that my being smart as a child was something that came from my love of reading and hard work (even though school never felt like work)--DS6 doesn't even need to try at all--his GT seems more natural.

I was actually talking to DH about this last week after taking the online Cognitive Skills test. There were some sections that DS6's raw score was almost the same as mine. There are also some video games and even board games that DS6 is already way ahead of me.

I have no idea!

DS7 is certainly better at pattern recognition than I am. He seems to combine many of the "smarts" of DH with my best skills, too. As DH is an engineer and I am a writer--both formerly GT kids in our own rights and pretty evenly matched--that definitely makes for a kid who is "smarter than the average bear"...

But I'm not sure if he's smarter than we are or just differently smart. You know?

I feel the same way!

My mom thought I was "God's gift to smarts," and I don't think that was always good for me. It took me a long time to define myself as anything more than "the smart one," and I always felt I had to be perfect. I want my kids to feel like they can make mistakes and that they are more than brains with legs.

Amusingly, I always thought I was MG. I saw my IQ test score recently and found I was HG+. It at least explained to me why I thought DS7 was MG (or maybe just a wee bit more) all along. My whole frame of reference was skewed from a very early age!

BTW, I just realized that I didn't mention DS4 at all. That's because I still can't tell for sure if he's ND, LD + GT, or just differently GT. And I'm not even thinking about LOGs with him yet! I'd tend to say that I'm smarter than he is, but that he's significantly more creative than anyone in the family. Still, it's awfully early to tell yet...

This is an easy one for me. If it wasn't for the video of the birth and the fact that they look like me and DH I would wonder "did this child really come out of my body?" Where did this child with all these brains come from?

Well since I was ID'd as PG at age 6 and DS is in the EG/PG range, same test (Stanford-Binet) but different versions, I'd say we're pretty close. DH was also Id'd at a young age but his IQ is lower than mine or DS's. I believe DH has some serious ADD issues that were never identified that probably interfered with his score. He's still so easily distracted by the slightest thing! We call it "look a shiny!" and even DS now recognizes the glazed look...

DS however, is way more social than I was as a child. Thank goodness for that, it's the only way he's currently surviving school.

It sure went by quick. It's been hard to say goodbye to the unbounded play and creativity my daughters enjoyed the past few weeks. DD's turned our living room into a Dinosaur Museum complete with all the excavation tools on display with explanations of how they were used and a gift shop that took dinosaur dollars and T-Rex tokens. It'll be nice to have the couches back but sad to know the unstructured time has ended. After much of the vacation spent deschooling, DD6 had another "More Math!" request on Saturday and that did my heart good. It was also wonderful to be able to indulge the pleas to keep reading and not worry about waking up early the next morning. Oh, Spring Break seems so far away...76 days and counting.
I go back and forth on this. I came across my SB-LM score in some old school files my mother had saved, so I'm curious about how our scores would compare. DH says DD's are my clones, so I'm guessing it's pretty close. They have an edge in circumstances though. My mom was a single mother so her time and money for afterschooling was limited. Also I was an only child until I turned 8. DD's are 2 years apart and their relationship gives them lots of built in intellectual support plus challenges.
I see some of this too with my oldest and youngest.

I've mentioned that my perception is that Einstein's creativity set him apart and is a big piece of his accomplishments, K.

Einstein's IQ is much debated, but, according to this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Professo...mp;s=books&qid=1231130266&sr=1-2

A 10 year old girl wrote him a letter in the 40's asking him what his I.Q. was and he wrote back to her that it was 145.

I'd say that both my children are more intelligent than I am based on what I see them do compared to what I could do or how complexly I thought at their age.

It's amazing as an adult sometimes to have the conversations I have with them. Remembering what I was thinking about and doing at that age really puts in in context.

This is hard - ds8 is a clever, very creative dickens...sometimes I think the common sense or 'practical intelligence' is somewhat lacking though. But he is only 8 so I gotta give him a break on that!!

I am probably approaching HG, DH is probably bordering on PG, but again he is lacking a bit in the practical realm...at least from my perspective. I think of myself as very very creative, but DH really outshines me there too, at least verbally/language wise. DS seems to have inherited this ability to just make stuff up, stories and plans of action in great colorful detail...

I would probably put ds8 close to where I fall and dd2.5 might be smarter than all of us - but that might be due to being more attuned to toddler gifted behaviors now.
About 72% of what she says and does just seems amazing to me. Also, we are looking at some testing for ld for ds so that might completely change things up.

I read that kids average about 10 iq points above their parents, but I don't know if that holds true if the parent's iq is already above avg. ...

((happy dance!!))

Thanks Dear Ones!

I woke up with a lovely collection of posts to chew on! Better news than the black ice and 90 minute school delays.

I'm the one who get distracted by shiny ideas in my house. I've given up the idea that i'm 2E, but I think I do have a working memory bottleneck, so sometimes the main point just slips of my working memory table. OTOH, I'm able to create such cool connections with the leftovers that do remain on the screen, so maybe that has it's own advantages.

I don't think it is very noticible here, as I can always go back and read the posts again. Of course sometimes I don't have the time or energy, but often I do, and I'm fast!

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Agreed. It's why I'm not willing to state one way or another how smart I think DS4 is. I really feel like I just can't tell yet.

I will say that he doesn't seem to learn as fast as anyone else in the family. Things require more explanation for him. He's also not as advanced for his age as anyone else in the family was at 4yo. But I also think that if he has a different kind of intelligence, if it's taking some different form than that of all the Spocks he's surrounded by, I may just not recognize his strengths as easily. He definitely has many of the "symptoms" of GTness besides the "book-smarts," so I tend to think there's something going on there.

But he isn't the kid that people say upon a first meeting, "You know he's really smart, right?" as his brother always has been.

Whatever that means...

Oh, and kcab, LOL!

Well my DS 4.5 is clearly smarter than me...I am not gifted although I am probably high avg. I took an on-line IQ test and got 127. So that must be official ; ) And I even got a certificate to print out and frame, LOL. DH is gifted, probably MG I am guessing but not sure. But DS is clearly more gifted than DH was. DH read at 4, DS started reading before 2 and very well at 2....in general DS seems to be much more ahead than DH was at his age all across the board. DS can already do things on computers that I don't know about and fix things I don't know how to fix just by playing around and figuring it out. There are brain teaser puzzles and wheel of fortune things that he can figure out faster than me already. It's quite overwhelming thinking about what will be. But then again, DS put his pants on and then realized he forgot his underwear today....so I am smarter than that.

LOL, I can relate. But DS was over 10 pounds when born so I do remember the whole thing : ) Thankfully he does have sense of humor that is part of our family...and he seems to appreciate mild sarcasm which is good.

ROFL! Love that!

I think of this in 2 ways.
DS probably has a higher IQ than me, 'probably' because niether of us have been tested so i have no real numbers. But the speed in which he learns is pretty rapid.

However currently i'm 'smarter' because i know more 'things' than him IYKWIM.

But i fully expect that one day he will be both smarter and have a higher IQ.

DD i don't know, but so far she has worked out pretty well how to push my buttons and get me to angry quicker than anyone i've ever met and i don't get angry easily...

as far as things that will lead to successful careers, yes. DH and I are both artists..... we makea da nice picture. yes? You likea da nice picture?

all kidding aside, our knowledge base is pretty specialized.

our iq numbers are all pretty equal, his are slightly lower then ours, but we think he may have tested low.

This is such a humorous topic to me. My DG who passed away last year would tell everyone who listened that my DD is incredibly smart. She use to say "she is smarter than me, smarter than your mother, smarter than even you (referring to me). Smarter than everyone else in the family." This was all before she was a year old, but my DG had been around many a baby and was a retired elementary school teacher. Now that she is 28 mths old I get that she is extremely intelligent and my grandmother was saying a lot back then especially when she had my cousin to compare her too. I know I am what is considered a creative genius (artistically) and yes of the high intelligence probably more MG than HG but my cousin was/is PG and even he has admitted that DD is smarter than him so it is a little scary.

At the same time just the other day as we were going through the day I caught myself thinking just how normal she seems to me and surely is just above average. I know it will be an uphill battle for me to really accept it all.

Just a wild guess here Mewzard, but is DD of the same personality as you? If you both are of strong personalities than it would be easier to push your buttons. I think my sister and mother are the same personalities and they are always bickering. I have friends that push their mother's buttons and are of the same personalities.

LOL!

We had a couple visit us last week and, after meeting our 24 m.o. DD, the wife turned to me and said, "She is so smart - REALLY smart - where did that come from?" and she searched my face like it was a complete mystery. I'm glad I wasn't offended LOL!

Grinity, can't you just tell your DS "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" and let him do research on intelligence to his heart's content? He could explore the nature v. nurture argument and, either way, conclude you are his competitive advantage.

What a fun thread this has been to read! DD10 is much more like DH, whereas DS13 is much more like me. It's easier for me to have a sense of DS's intelligence. I tend to think that DS is more intelligent than the lot of us, but every once in a while, DD will say something incredibly brilliant and I realize that I've been selling her short! As far as test scores go, DD scores the same or just a tad lower than DS at the same age (ITBS, CoGat - which were required to get into the self-contained gifted classes from 3rd-6th that he did and that she is now in.)

Unfortunately, DH's family didn't seem to value academic intelligence as much as mine, so it's hard to recognize from his youth where he was at. I was in any GT classes (pull-out) that were available, and when in 1st grade was invited to the 2nd grade+ pull out program because they didn't know what else to do with me. DH is definitely gifted, and it's quite apparent now. DS is much more interested in learning - he really thirsts for knowledge and understanding. DD enjoys learning, but doesn't "consume" books the way DS does.

I have tried to look at comparisons between my SAT scores in 8th grade and DS's ACT scores this year - and best I can tell, he is smarter than me. Of course, I was always more of the math kid, and he is more of the language kid.

I have a feeling that DD will end up surprising us all. I think she will end up at the top of her class consistently, and probably be very well-adjusted socially. I've had several people thinking they were complimenting me by telling me that "she is obviously really smart once you start talking to her, but until you get into a deep discussion with her you would never know it!" I've also had people tell me from the moment DS opens his mouth that they'll "vote for him as President someday, because he obviously is smart enough to get there!"

Seablue's post reminded me of the time I was at DH's office party and was bragging to the office manager about our kids. The OM has always been very friendly person and impressed with DH, and was likewise impressed with my stories of the children. Finally the OM said, "Wow! They are *really* smart! They must take after your husband!" I don't think he had a clue at how it came out!

One last thing, if anyone is still reading, we enjoy going out to eat dinner and socializing/having discussions with our kids. Recently during one of these outings, DH asked DS if he would ever get bored with talking with us because he's so much smarter than we are. DS responded, "Well, maybe a little someday, but I'll always love you!"

Opposites do well at this, too. Bless 'em, my mom and sister make me crazier than anyone else, and they are NOTHING like me. They are very emotional, very passive aggressive, very self-sacrificing (only to be mad when their sacrifices aren't valued by others as much as they're valued by the sacrificer), etc. Seriously, get one of them with me, and it's just like Bones and Spock duking it out!

I often say that we just don't speak the same language, and as a result, we drive one another nuts. Though in our situation, it's completely without meaning to.

Different reason, same result.

I almost included the opposite comment but didn't, but you are so right. By the way ... are you sure we aren't related? You described my mother and sister to the T. The odd thing is I get along great with my mom but not at all with my sister, probably b/c she is over the top with it all.

LOL!

I can usually manage to get along with one or the other but never both at the same time. And I'm always on pins and needles because at any moment, one of them will get mad at me for some completely inexplicable reason that I never saw coming.

It's like waiting for a bomb to go off.

Is that what it's like for you, too, K'sMom?

The bomb HAS gone off for my sister. Sadly, I am not even talking to her at this point. She is so frustrating b/c she is the ultimate passive aggressive person. When I finally have enough and confront her with why she is upset and what can we do to improve the situation I get the childish act of her hanging up the phone and refusing to talk to me all together, but when she is ready to let it go it is never to be discussed but let's pretend everything is alright and have some fake relationship. It really is frustrating and sad.

Oh, I wish I didn't know what you mean. *sigh* So frustrating! It really does sound like we share relatives!

For what it's worth, sharing with my friends about family issues I have come to realize that my family is not out of the norm. Most of my friends have to deal with the passive aggressive family member which is usually their mother. It does make for some interesting stories as we compare notes.

True, though I suspect you and I have worse cases than the norm.

I know that direct women are relatively rare. It's one of the reasons that other women either like me very much immediately or detest me--no real in between. My directness annoys passive aggressive people a lot, though, according to my family!

You so hit it on the nose. Strong direct women can be seen as aggressive and unnatural!!! So I too have minimal 'girl' friends and have always had a lot of guy friends. My bestfriend has always been my husband. But the 'girl' friends that I do have are close friends that have been in my life for years and will be in my life forever. Now that I have my child and having to interact with the 'moms' I am sure I will be on the outside because I don't fit the mold and I don't do well with the fluff talk. I am always that intense one. So time will tell.

Yup. You're 100% right that it does mean we get along well with men and minimize those "fluffy" friendships. That's my experience, too. Friends with me tend to be lifelong friends, male or female. Fewer, but deeper.

And I'm perfectly okay with that!

I think my daughter and i are both similar and completely different. We both stick to our opinions, there is no pushing us around, but she is very stubborn for the sake of it and hates rules where as i respect (valid) rules and will listen to other peoples opinions. Also she is only just 2

My sister and mother argue lots, they are so similar. My mum can bait people into a situation where they are wrong no matter what. She also does that sacrifice thing which drives me crazy!

I also have more male friends than female, i have always felt more comfortable around men.