I can only go by what and who I personally know. My anecdata has proven to me that my friends who are gifted and successful have had, in my opinion, a good childhood. Those who I know that have had bad childhoods have not ended up successful (once again, my definition- not anyone else's). This is what I know to be true; I don't need strangers in a forum to tell me how to perceive giftedness in my life, and on my side of the world
I can't give you my opinion on your life in America, or tell you what you should think success is; I just know what my worldview is. I believe I wrote 'to me', not 'this is how it is for every person on Earth'
And, you may not "give" a child a childhood, but as a parent you can certainly give them a good one, or a bad one.
