Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Intellectual Stimulation?

How do you know if a child is getting enough intellectual stimulation?

FWIW, my son is really young. He goes bonkers when he doesn't have enough intellectual stimulation. Moping, crankiness, unwilling to leave house, but also occasionally going full speed tearing through the house in some imaginary game... Looks a lot like seasonal affective disorder combined with a destructive caged animal brain but resolves completely if given something to learn or hypnotized by the tv.

Looks a lot like seasonal affective disorder combined with a destructive caged animal brain but resolves completely if given something to learn or hypnotized by the tv.


YES.

Well, TV isn't our thing much around here-- but internet stimulation is.

My DS8 starts pacing, chatting, climbing furniture (literally), purposely bugging his sister (funny to watch, but she doesn't think so), asking random questions, picking things up and looking at them, spinning, jumping and running up and down the hallway, or if all else fails, he lies down on the couch and falls asleep.

My DD10 gets cranky, bossy and various other versions of unflattering words relating to temperament. She also can get chatty chatty chatty, and tends to skip up and down when she talks. She's more prone to SCREAMING at her brother rather than giggling and conspiring with him, and reacts to almost everything I say by rolling her eyes and walking away.

(aren't they fun?)

My children need both intellectual and physical or they are a mess.

Solution...library and swim team over the summer (among other things but those are the foundation or else we have chaos).

My 5 yr old climbs the walls (less so now than in the past) my 12 yr old is grumpy and unhappy, and I can tell you a lot about what an adult in need of intellectual stimulation looks like! ha! (fingers crossed I get into the master's program I am applying to...)

Deacongirl - good luck! I hope you make it in

Me, too!

One nice thing is that as they get older, once you've set up a set of good boundary conditions, you can kind of let them do their own afterschooling to some degree.

DD's interests/obsessive learning activities within the last week include:

a) acoustics of musical instruments
b) the Cremonese school of viol manufacture
c) acoustics more generally
d) ADA and ADAA
e) separation of church and state
f) Southern Poverty Law Center
g) Office of Civil Rights-- DoEd
h) The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and the art of civil disobedience with a purpose.
i) adding to her DeviantArt collection of postcards/typography with a new theme of civil liberties.

This in her "free" time.

Which, when highly motivated by a passion, can be significant. It's only 11:30 and in just 2.5 hours, DD13 has done two lessons in AP Physics, five German lessons, and an essay draft for AP Lit.

Since 9, I mean.

She's quite happy.

DD8 indicates she's not getting enough stimulation in one of three ways:

1) Depression
2) "I'm bored!"
3) "Dad, let's chat."