Well, I'll just share my own story of perfectionism - I entered kindergarten already reading, and I breezed through the primary grades. When my family moved at the end of my 2nd grade year, the principal told my mother he was sorry to see us go, because I was the smartest kid he had in the school (my mother loves telling that story). However, about halfway through 4th grade, I hit a wall with fractions - I just couldn't understand them! In those days, mathemathics was taught as a memorized process - not a conceptual understanding. So I freaked out.
One day, while staring at a blank worksheet with all the other kids working steadily away, the teacher approached and noticed I hadn't done any problems. In a cold sweat, I jumped up from my desk and told her I was going to be sick. After I cleverly waited until the end of math time to come back from the bathroom, the teacher came to me and said, "Jennifer, I know you must not be feeling well if YOU aren't doing the work - you're the smartest kid here, and you understand EVERYTHING!" At that point, I realized I actually wasn't very smart - that no matter how sophisticated my language, fluent my reading, or detailed my writing, I couldn't get fractions and therefore must be dumb. I've had a math complex ever since, and have only recently realized that it probably kept me from attempting medical school.
So all in all, I am worried about how my daughter will handle challenges, as I already see her shy away from anything she perceives might be difficult - and I don't want her K experience to be so easy that her first real challenge ends in disaster.
