My feeling on the nature vs nurture thing with DS 7 is that his need for information is something we must feed - rather like his need for food. Without input he gets cranky - he devours reading material and has these learning growth spikes and he has been this way since he was little - I diagnosed it at 3 but he was definitely like this from birth although we didn't know how different this behavior was because he is an only and it's not obvious at 6 months vs how obvious it is at 4.5 yrs when comparing to other kids.
I was raised by tiger parents before it was newsworthy and always resented the pushing particularly when I recognized I had my own ambitions. I think if DS was another kid I might be worried about achievement but with him I am not. He is learning so much on his own achievement is not about learning for him, if you kwim. Instead, its about teaching DS work habits, perseverance and responsibility. DH is extremely bright but didn't learn that good work habits were key to achievement success when things got harder so we are both conscious that its important to learn executive function things so that DS can do what he wants to do, rather than achieving some score or something like that.
DS is not really challenged currently by anything other than handwriting at school but he is mostly happy. By their standards he is really "achieving." He focuses on his interests outside of school at his own pace. I don't push him at all in the areas where he is learning ahead on his own although I will observe and then raise the level of what he is doing by bringing in a video or book at the next level, see how he reacts and proceed from there.
DeHe
Last edited by DeHe; 02/24/13 03:48 PM.
