I know that when children enter school, some of them (mine, at the least) get the message that it is 'bad' to be little and 'good' to be a big kid, and that being a big kid is a privalege that must be earned through suffering through each of the grades. Subject accelerations didn't work for my son in 4th grade, because he always projected that the other kids questioned his right to do their special privaleges. Some little boys are amazingly heirarchy-minded. As a female, it's difficult for me to take this as seriously as my DS does, even on an emotional level.
Interesting insight, Grinity. I would have missed this issue completely. Sometime it is not a question of what messages of acceptance that others give us, but how secure we are in our own world view. My DS is really age-blind and/or size-blind. He does not register that he is any different than any of the other kids in his class, even when they are years and inches (nearly feet!) different. This has its own set of problems, mind you! But to a kid that is very aware of this, it can be quite intimidating. There is a delicate balance between the hunger to know more and the risks that you are willing to take in order to climb up the food chain (so to speak) and the uncomfortableness of being different. That balance will be different for each child.
