Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Heroes, mentors, and such

Do any of you make a concerted effort to refer your children to biographies of accomplished people, or pull in friends as mentors to your children?
Some of my favorites are Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and a few others. I think their examples of dedication, wide array of knowledge, and their ability to persevere are character traits I'd like to see in GS8. So many of the popular figures in the news today leave a lot to be desired. Sure, that football player is a great athlete, but he goes home and beats his wife or fights dogs or gets drunk -- and those things also end up in the news.

I've always had a little geek crush on Thomas Edison. I wouldn't say that I really refer to these folks as heroes, but I do like to buy biographies of real people who have done things that matter. We have a fair sized collection of these at various reading levels.

Helen Keller, I am sure was at least HG, and probably PG.

There are some athletes who are positive role models, but they seem to get overshadowed by the steroid abusers, dog killers, etc.

Role models is probably a better word to use than heroes.
If I remember right I think Helen Keller spoke her first words when she was 6 months old, before she lost her vision & hearing. That, along with learning to communicate later, sure indicates HG+.

My bookworm DD loves biographies and historical novelizations. She eats up books about Helen Keller, Susan B. Anthony, Sacajawea, etc. She also loves the American Girl series and learns some history and about other cultures from them. She really seems to identify with female figures and strongly prefers books about girls and women.

She loved the Little House books and still reads her favorite parts over and over again.

I agree, there are lots of positive messages for kids in these books. I do talk to DD about them, too.

We loved the series "A Picture Book of....." We have Helen Keller, Benjamin Franklin, John F. Kennedy, Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, etc. In fact we have about 10 or so of them and my kids loved these when they were little. I think Helen Keller especially was just amazing. I think OHG was right in that Helen did begin to speak when she was about 6 months old. I've always thought she had to be highly gifted.

We have books about Mozart, Beethoven and lots of artists. I really enjoy this kind of thing so I've always enjoyed sharing this type of information with my children and they seem to enjoy it too.

Loved the "geek crush" Lorel!!! Too funny!

Yeah, well I had a geek crush on Spock.

Had? Why had?

One of the things I like about the latest incarnation of the game Civilization is that Leonard Nemoy narrates part of it.

Right now my son is very much into professional sports. He has many heroes.

On the other hand since he started attending a Montessori school he has been very interested in reading the biographies of Martin Luther King and quite a few famous artists. According to his teacher she has really enjoyed teaching these kind of lessons this year since my son really seems to pay attention, asks questions and remembers the facts.

Mine was on Benjamin Franklin! Now there is a mind for me!

You all had people you admire--what about just interesting people or people who changed history? When I was in mid-high school, I read everything about Henry VIII (Lorel's avatar), did projects, reports, etc. then spread it into historical English monarchy.

DS13 has read biographies of many tycoons (his favorite was the Warren Buffet one, also one about the guy who started McDonald's, one about Steve Jobs).

One book that my boys have absolutely LOVED is the "THE BIG BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES"--as soon as my kids could read independently, they're take that to bed and on are trips and it would keep them entertained.