Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion what do you do about hyperspeed?

My kids gave me the run around today, and I just thought I'd ask how people handle hyperspeed on here... like when the kid is clawing after two or three subjects at once and you can't even find enough time to breathe, let alone find the subway tokens and get the mits in your pocket.... that.

Do you ask them to slow down? Ask them to do only one thing at a time? Ask them to wait while you do something? Let them run you ragged? Pray to the flying spaghetti monster?

I really like it when they're engaged like that... but the split attention on my part can get dangerous at times (like on the subway)

Thanks,
-Mich

Ok, can't help saying it...
(It started when we stopped to read a Magic Treehouse book at a coffee shop. We got an apple and some honeyballs and drinks. But the apple was bruised, so I had to draw diagrams showing how apples bruise and the cells break, and then it drys out and shrinks, but I was using a highlighter on a napkin, so we also discussed how dyes differ from pigments, also capillary action, reflection, and arithmetic (because the appleseeds went and started multiplying at us when we opened a napkin looking for more space. There was just NOT enough time to drink enough coffee for that.

And this was NOT in sequence, it was very much in parallel. And after that it went on at the same pace for 6 hours.)

That is too funny! Also you must be constantly exhausted, so I hope you take some time to relax when you can. But during the times when it isn't exhausting, I really enjoy this kind of thing--our DD is not anywhere near this fast but definitely has her days when I just want to shut down (plus I'm really an introvert and enjoy my quiet time). But since she's been reading on her own (for awhile now), it really helps to get her books on whatever she's asking about, or actually when she was younger and less self-sufficient I would print out the Wikipedia entry on whatever and let her read it. Sometimes those are too high-level, though, or too in-depth for her level of interest, but definitely it bought me some time. Also I have tried to teach her 'one question at a time,' and you can ask them to repeat stuff back to you (to make sure they understood it, and also to help them learn how to explain things to others--something we're just now realizing DD actually needs to work on a lot, since she tends to have tunnel vision about her thoughts, as do I). Plus as DD's K teacher explained to us, it's a good thing for kids to learn how to amuse themselves (without electronic aids) for periods of time, so it might be good to ask them to give you some 'quiet time' or whatever you want to call it--you shouldn't have to be their constant entertainment center, nor do you want to train them to expect that (in part lest they also expect it from others, and end up frustrating everyone, IMO). I loved your post, though; I remember doing this kind of thing a lot with DD when she was just a little younger. It's amazing how quickly her need for so much intensive one-on-one passed, and now she's focusing on topics more independently. Good luck!

Punt?

Keep a notebook labeled "Mysteries to Unravel"
and when needed and expedient, add topics to it with checkboxes and maybe a column for the date when solved.

Might develop into a great habit or critical survival tool for him later. I don't know how much I could get done if I didn't constantly capture my tangents.

Zen Scanner's suggestion is better than mine - which was "I don't know, we can look it up when we get home" (and only look it up if THEY remember to ask again)...

NOTEBOOK.

OMG.

YES.

Sincerely,
-Mich