Oh, HowlerKarma, I wish you lived near me. You talk like people I like talking to do.
I remember my Gr. 5 teacher, who knew a thing or two about voracious readers. When he found me dangling by my armpits from the portable's railing reading my way through every lunch and recess, he confiscated my books "because I shouldn't dog-ear the pages" (I used to mark every "interesting" passage by folding over the page.)
Not only did I learn to treat books with much more respect (and be more circumspect about what was "interesting" -- it actually became the seed for learning how to highlight/take notes effectively when I was older), but it forced me to play with <gasp> the other gifties (to whom I'd just been introduced). I still never really fit in to the class, but I did manage to clue in that I fit BETTER than I had in regular classes
What I, on recent reflection, learned from Mr. Beuler, is this: Kids want to learn robustly. It's not helpful to skimp on the discipline just 'cause they're doing something "Good." I strongly suspect that that has to be paired with "don't bore them to tears," but he was real good at THAT. (And my feeling that he'd broken the rules of engagement produced some of my best work EVER in his class -- but he was comfortable with rule-breaking, no matter who did it)
Not that I'm suggesting confiscating her books. Or at least I think I'm not.
My child doesn't understand that she needs to go to sleep so that we can talk as adults.
<shivering from the familiarity>
We also have sleep issues, although he's only in the 8hr/24 range rarely. Mostly it's c.10, (incl. 1.5 hr nap) which is not ridiculously below age norms (c. 11.5-13, incl. 1 1.5 hr nap). But if we let him go down to something more like 8 hrs/24 and use a longer daylength, he sleeps like a normal kid (ie: falls asleep easily, stays asleep for a reasonable "night," and does not fall asleep or wake crying). What I want to know is a) am I destroying him by allowing him to get away with too little sleep, and b) am I destroying him by making him cry, fighting over sleep times, and waking him in midcycle to extend his total hours of sleep?
After getting him to sleep and managing his night-wakings, we don't get 8 hrs/24, which is a problem for us, and we can't find anyone to help us with it for the reasons mentioned by others...
-Mich
