Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion You know you're parenting a gifted child when...

I am extremely impressed that your child knows about a feller buncher!

When your very advanced 4 year old pianist's teacher reports that he was very distracted during his lesson and he replies, you know I am still very young and
Most children my age can't play the piano at all.

When your DS is asked by his grandmother what he learned at school and his response is , Oh I don't learn anything at all at school I just go to help with the butterfly garden and take care of the two year olds on the playground.

Oh dear! First electrocution...!

I owe it to YouTube and Jerry Palotta's Construction Alphabet book. No vehicle goes unnoticed with DS. He talks about vehicles in his sleep.

You have to ask the teacher to use a workbook you provide to the school to keep your son busy as the other kids finish their work. Said teacher does so; however begrudgingly.

Your child's teacher tells you you are "too hard" on your child and from then on thinks you're a "hot-housing" parent.

Your child questions waitresses/waiters about whether or not the food has GMO's.

You play math games at restaurants while waiting for your food.

Your child requests non-fluoridated toothpaste at the dentist...and reads the labels of the options available as the hygienists look on with surprise.

You constantly find yourself reminded of your child's chronological age when a meltdown of some sort occurs moments after he/she has done something brilliant. One minute you're having a conversation and the next you're corralling an inconsolable banshee.

Hmm! I think some of y'all have my daughters living at your house. They might be hiding out as boys. Some of these posts are waaaay too familiar.

It's funny but some of my examples I feel like I can't give because my children are such opposites (in some ways)... Like you know you have a gifted child when you have to baby proof beyond what anyone's ever seen before, from 5 months old.... OR you don't need to baby proof AT ALL... Child #2 we had only 1 room in the house we could allow her in without 100% attention at all times, that one room had mag locks ingeniously installed on things never intended for mag locks.... Child #3 we had a stair gate (she had access to the full house, she just had to take an alternate route than the slate stairs), we put the dishwashing powder up high and that's it.

...When you have to make easy instructions difficult so they have to figure out how to do it. Like, for my now 4th grader, instead of memorizing multiplication tables over and over we had to turn it into a game of "is the number prime or composite."

...When your then 8 year old was helping her 16 year old cousin with his Spanish homework and Geography.

...When she can tell you how to build a bridge but has difficulty tying her shoes and still can't ride a bike.

...when she corrects typos on math worksheets. Or asks if she should put the correct answer or the answer the worksheet is wanting. And yes there is a difference.

...or she asks you how the best way to correct her teacher would be. Because she doesn't want to get in trouble but the teacher is wrong and your student has proof.

...when your now 9 year old is your secret weapon on your trivia team because no one thinks about you bringing your kid to the trivia game. Until others realize you only have three members to their 8 and your team is winning...LOL

...when your family doctor loans your 8 year old an anatomy book for her to look at.

...when your 8 year old goes on a school trip with the her gifted class to the Davinci Machines exhibit and brings home a print of a Davinci painting she wants to hang up in her room. But it's not the Mona Lisa. It's Lady with an Ermine because she liked it better.

^ yes.

Just, all of that. LOL.


DD started tearfully asking me things like this when she was about 7yo...

and I'm still trying, almost eight years later, to explain to the school why it is unacceptable to me that my daughter earns a "c" on a quiz because she understands the material TOO WELL.

{sigh}

When your 14yo is happier working in a college research lab than she has ever been in her life. Well, except for the Christmas when her grandfather got her a Samantha doll when she was four.

When your 6yo refuses to cooperate with standardized testing unless she can "read the directions myself" because anything else is "patronizing and downright insulting."

When your 9yo spends the afternoon at the local science museum cheerfully "helping" adults who can't figure out the math puzzles.

When your 14yo is elated that the academic paper she's an author on has been accepted for review... and flips back to the window where she is skyping with her a friend in some kind of pretend-play game.