This may be a little disjointed, so please bear with me as I try to talk through what's clumping up in my head...I could use some of the wisdom that's always so freely on tap here!
List of disjointed but related thoughts:
* I was thinking last night about Grinity's note that my DS3.5 may be GT, too, and how DS3 just doesn't seem *AS* GT as DS6 to me.
* Then I was thinking about siblings not being able to participate in the DYS activities. Logical, sensible, necessary...but potentially difficult.
* Earlier this week, a friend was asking me what we're going to do with DS3 for school: HS or public school? I'm still really up in the air--and naturally, a lot could change between now and 3 years from now!--but I know he'd be a lot harder for me to teach than DS6, so my first inclination is public school...even as I keep HSing DS6.
* Finally, I was trying to explain DYS to DS6 (with DS3 listening) without making it sound like I think DS6 is "the smart one."
My point to all of this? I adore both my kids and I think they're both wonderful and special in their own ways. But I also KNOW that they're very different and they will not always need/get the exact same treatment, not even from me.
Now you know and I know that this is normal and healthy. But from a child's point of view, if I teach DS6 but not DS3--even if that's what's best for each of them--doesn't that seem like less love for DS3? If DS6 is in DYS and DS3 isn't, doesn't that make DS6 seem like "the smart one," no matter what skills and talents DS3 has? I don't want to limit DS3 *OR* DS6 like that, but I fear they're going to think that I am or that they will limit themselves.
My own baggage: to this day, my parents try to do things EXACTLY the same for my (unmarried, with no kids) sister and I, to the point of giving us most of the same gifts for Christmas. If they give/loan one of us money, they offer the same amount to the other daughter. I don't think this is very effective, but I have a lot more sympathy for the strategy now that I'm facing the problem myself. If everything is the same, it's hard to argue that it's not equal...even if it isn't!
I guess my real question is this: With one HG+ child and a younger one who might not be quite as GT, how do you keep things healthy?
