DD11's psch. has recommended that we find a mentor for DD.
What are the psych's goals for the mentorship? Would the psych and mentor become a team, sharing information? Has the psych shared a checklist of signs which would indicate the mentorship is "working" (or conversely, is not helping your child)?
- Are you looking for an in-person mentor or someone with whom she might develop an online connection across some distance?
- Are you looking for a paid, professional relationship?
(Or possibly just other adults who may take an interest in her pursuits... the types of relationships which some children may experience from aunts, uncles, cousins, etc, in an extended family?)
- Are you looking for someone working in a specific field (such as political cartooning) who may discuss with your DD what path they took to arrive at their current position?
- What length of time are you hoping for this mentorship to last?
I was on the Hoagie's site looking for guidance and most of the links did not work.
Did you notify Hoagies of any broken links? Polite feedback and a "heads-up" helps to build the gifted community and keep it strong. Without both
give and
take, there is no "community"... only demands which can overwhelm any system in place.
I would like to hear some stories of how you all found a mentor for your DD or DS.
Extensions of parental relationships: coworkers, friends of friends, neighbors, and extended family can provide mentorship, depending upon what you are looking for and the type of relationships you may already have with those you come in contact with.
A child with a strong interest in a particular area may attend community events, book signings, lectures/presentations, etc, and develop the ability to strike up a conversation with a known "expert" such as a book author, college/university professor, etc, who may be interested in mentoring. (This would typically apply to older children, but when the subject is a gifted child, I tend to set age aside.)
In my observation and experience, children who do best with a mentor may be those who are positive, respectful, open to new ideas, forge healthy relationships, are flexible, and strongly internally motivated... who see bumps in the road as something routine, to be expected, and to learn from, therefore do not catastrophize or "fall to pieces", but take things in stride. In a word: undaunted.
The Davidson database includes information on mentoring:
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Webpage of many resources on the topic of mentoring-
Guidebook overview webpage-
Guidebook PDF
