I think you have to consider that "prodigious" doesn't necessarily mean Mozart like piano or cancer research in the lab at 6! When I started thinking about it, my DS has a very clear prodigious talent for Pokemon ;-) He has memorized nearly 500 cards, the strengths, weaknesses, hit points etc. Is it going to win him a Nobel Prize? No... but Pokemon is just his thing right now. That talent will likely later transfer to chemistry formulas or math or something else slightly more useful!
I agree. I believe I mentioned my DS's fascination with cars that he had when he was potty training. He used to sit on the little potty seat and memorize the "Consumer Reports" annual auto issue. Then he could ID the make and model of pretty much any car on the road. It was pretty mind-blowing.
Is that a "talent?" Not a very useful one! (Though I always joked that if we were the victims of a hit and run accident, or a crime involving a car, he'd be the one I'd have talk to the police!) But he was only maybe 2yo at the time. Don't expect 6yos to be writing the Great American Novel, you know?
I think it is also right that not being insatiable about learning all the time doesn't mean a kid is not PG. Personality matters a lot in that regard. I am also parenting a very laid-back kid with a wide variety of interests. I suspect that breadth dilutes some of the passion, since kids like ours tend to have a lot of balls in the intellectual air.
But our DS certainly does have special needs that must be met in some fashion if he is to remain emotionally healthy. No, he doesn't read physics textbooks for fun. But that sort of image of PG-ness doesn't apply to all PG kids. Don't get stuck on that. Some PG kids are generalists. That still counts!
