Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Challenges are necessary?

I think learning that you already know everything the teacher is teaching is a bad thing to learn, even as early as age 3.

It has taken me YEARS to learn how to deal with real challenges. I'm something of a late bloomer because of this. Everything I choose to put in front of my DD (22months) is chosen with the idea that she needs the activity to be challenging, without it being so challenging that she can't "get" it, or way out of the range of where her motor skills currently are.

(Like we tried toddler scissors and easy mazes this past weekend and discovered she needs a few more weeks / months before we try again. My mom had DD trying to blow bubbles and she kept getting them in her mouth and screaming when my mom tried to help. So she got annoyed and brought her inside. I took her back out and showed her over and over and let her get soap in her mouth. She was so proud to finally got one bubble out. We let her practice jumping and going under in the pool, too, and she's improved with swimming considerably. I know not all parents would want to let their child go under and have to go through the struggle and swallowing water at a young age, but she wanted to and we felt she was ready to "get" being in water.)

The easy peg puzzles got put away as soon as she did her first 4 pc jigsaw. I immediately introduced 6, 9 and 12. When she mastered the 6 and 9, the 25 pc came out. She mastered the 12pc right before she mastered the 25, but I already had the 48 pc out to work on with her at that point. That's how I try to do everything.

There is always an easier option available, a challenging option, and something a little out of her league that she needs a decent amount of help with. I see her seek out the easier stuff when she needs a boost, and then work on the challenging stuff, and ask for my help and watch me when she feels like tackling the most challenging activities.

I've always done this with books, letters, numbers, tv shows, fine motor activities, helping around the house, etc. I introduce new concepts and activities, see what her reaction is, and then figure out where she's at with them.

It's work to really figure out where your child is, but I want her to internalize the idea that practice helps her master challenges and that mastering even harder things is exciting and fun.

I'd like to shield where other kids are at for as long as I can. All that matters is where *she* is at and what she's exploring and what progress *she* is making.