I think it's about balance.
I agree, and a constantly shifting one at that with a rapidly developing intellect.
We can each only make choices that are right for the ages and sensitivity levels of our kids (some sensitivities are inherent and not developed through excessive sheltering).
This is a tricky statement. Some sheltering is inherent in your idea of balance, but people obviously can assign different meanings to "excessive". And while I'm not a psychologist, it's obvious to me that though one might have a genetic predisposition to neuroses, anxiety disorders and the like, a large component of almost all human behavior is learned as well. Just as one may learn to lessen anxiety in therapy, anxiety can be caused or heightened with the wrong approach too.
As an example, when my son briefly showed a beginning tendency to be afraid of the dark, instead of leaving the lights on at night and giving him a big flashlight, which would have avoided expressions of fear but actually validated and strengthened the fear itself, I worked to help him dispel it. It seems to me that unhealthy anxiety can be completely avoided with the right approach, at least with some people, and I think my son's proof of that; he has no anxiety over discussions of 9/11 at all.
I would say that whatever criteria one would normally use for exposing a person under one's care to a new idea should apply to a HG+ child, but notions tied somehow to age should be discarded. Just like with math or any other subject, someone's ready to understand a new concept when the proper foundation's been laid, and that can happen at an earlier age for a gifted person than normal.
My personal feeling is that watching the 9/11 footage is not going to benefit them.
I think the footage benefits my son in the same ways it benefits me. The factual detail is interesting and good to know from a historical perspective. It also helps to highlight the enormity of the 9/11 attacks; a terse mention that nearly 3,000 people died in an attack just doesn't do the topic justice, in my opinion. And knowing more about the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath means my son understands more about other world events too.
