Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Olefactory/Gustatory

I agree with Ametrine, with the exception that IF this sense makes you extremely picky about food FOR LIFE (some very picky children grow up to be gourmets as adults), then it is a liability.

I would never trade away my ability to detect subtleties of flavor, hints of spices, etc. I used to work as a chef and I love to cook. I also feel it enriches my experience of life! I believe my DD also possesses abilities with smell and taste, should she wish to use them.

I'd just drop the term gift in the conversation, because it seems there is such a struggle to keep focus on intellectual giftedness. Next thing you know Pearsons will have a scratch-and-sniff standardized test and more intellectually gifted kids will be bumped into the regular classroom to make room for Johnny who can distinguish Juniper Thyme from English Thyme from Silver Thyme.

But to the original question, DS and I both have fairly sensitive noses and I can't think straight around heavy perfumes and have to use unscented detergents. And my hands tend to swell when using scented soaps. As a kid, I loved milk, but I'd have to stop drinking milk about 3 days before anyone else cared due to the stench.

DS is heavily drawn to smelling intense smells. One day he insisted on smelling every spice and herb in the kitchen (many, many of them) and he can name them all still from that time.

Yes! I wonder how many of us are also supertasters.

Zen scanner I had a friend as a teen who could predict within the half day when milk would go bad - days in advance.

I am, DS isn't. My PG friend from college is the only other person I've met who had as extreme a reaction to saccharine as myself (one or two grains in a drink is enough to make it undrinkable.)


heh, that's a fun trick.

Perfume and strong smelling deodourants should be illegal. I hate wearing foundation because the smell drives me mad and I do not want to be in the same house as tinned fish.

My kids have a couple of odd ones though. I have to go into another room to have vinegar, they don't like feta (I understand blue vein) but cows milk feta?, they also don't like the smell of gravy, or stew or a numbers of the other things. Ds6 is a fussy eater but ds4 isn't.

LoL!

I personally think of it as a gift, anyway.

I'm also sensitive to certain perfumes in beauty products. I'm the annoying woman you see opening and sniffing the shampoos/conditioners and wrinkling her nose. Luckily, I can stand certain types, though.

Have you tried mineral makeup? I mean like Bare Minerals. I don't detect any smell and they don't make my skin itch.

I've had hubby change his antiperspirant because it reacted with his chemistry and made me nuts. I couldn't sleep next to him.

We use perfume-free detergents because for some reason, I find those scents to be especially overwhelming.