I sort of intuitively introduced the concept of a 'little voice' that can come from the heart or the head to my son when he was very little (age 3?)to try and explain other people's behavior.
We talked about how the 'heart's voice' is the one to believe, and the 'head voice' could be tricky or right, but that one had to be skeptical. I don't have any guess about it DS really understood what I was saying, or if he just was playing along. I'd narrate how my 'head voice' was telling me to 'hurry hurry' and 'drive fast' if we were trying to get somewhere and we were late, but that my 'heart voice' reminded me to go 'steadily but safely' and not speed.
I had no idea at the time what giftedness was, but just wanted to treat DS 'how I would have liked to be treated.'
By age 5, DS was able to give me 'percentages' of how much any particular statement was about what his 'heart voice' was telling him and how much was due to various ego needs, such as wanting to be liked, wanting to look impressive,curiosity.
That was very helpful to be able to rely on his self-awareness while trying to decide 'yes' or 'no' to something.
((shrugs))
Grinity
