Is this normal for.gifted children to be so resistant to the idea of growing up?
I should state also that I'm wondering if its a gender identity issue because he is def a little on the dramatic flamboyant side.
He identifies more with females and does not seem to have many close friends who are male.
He does not seen to have an interest in either sex but I sometimes wonder if its the idea of becoming more masculine that bothers him???
Need some help here.
Are you yourself familiar with trans* issues? If not, it wouldn't do any harm to read up on them yourself, and have the odd gentle conversation with him, just so he knows that accepting the gender binary and the sex he was assigned at birth is not the only option.
Here's a good starting point. You may well, of course, find that he's actually completely sure he's male, but even if so, you might find the conversations were useful in terms of discussing how people fit into society and acceptance of individual difference and I-love-you-however-you-grow-up and all that.
FWIW my DS is at 9 quite anxious about growing up, although puberty isn't really on his radar yet and what concerns him is the need to earn his own living, live independently etc. I think it is a consequence of being a deep thinker; he can get a good picture of what you have to be able to do as an adult, but he nevertheless finds it very hard to imagine being about to do it!
