Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

We couldn't find DS6's lunch box on the Monday following spring break so DH put his lunch in a pink Susan B. Komen mini-cooler.

Needless to say he was teased. His girl friends defended him, a couple of his boy friends defended him and the teacher explained to the kids that the pink ribbon was associated with a charity. This lead to further discussion about charities and even more discussion about who all had dads who wore pink shirts and why pink was just a girl color anyway.

He now insists on taking the pink lunch box as a reminder to the teasing boy that he doesn't care what he thinks and that teasing is not nice.

Good for him KJP!

I was sitting next to DD at a sporting event when she suddenly commented, "If a proper fraction has a prime number in the denumerator, it can't be simplified. Is that right?"

Me: "Huh? Um...yes, I guess that's true. Why are you thinking about that??"

DD: "I don't know. My brain just thinks about number things sometimes."

It's not such an world-changing "theorem," but the thing that gets me about this is the way she's prone to spouting these at the most random moments. My brain definitely does not work this way!

That is so cool, ultramarina I love those kinds of theorem-moments!

DD9 previously announced that she hated art, because she wasn't good at it. We had never decided to make this a battleground for task-avoidant perfectionism, since she had a lot more enthusiasm to work on it in other areas, like gymnastics and music. Besides, I never liked it, either... for much the same reason, it turns out. Well, DD9 decided to make it a battleground anyway, and she is turning it into a win!

Last night I came home from work to find her sketching. She told me that she decided she wanted to be good at art, and that she hated that she just drew stick figures, and she wanted to work out how to draw human forms. She had already done a couple, which were of the basic sort of thing you'd expect, one step above stick figures... faces were still very simple, the arms and legs were sticking out straight, but the rest of the shapes were more or less there. She was looking for some criticism of them, but I just asked her what she thought of them, and she did some self-critiquing without the usual "I'M SO STUPID!" that had attended that in the past.

It was her plan that really surprised me... she had several of these sketch books, and she announced that she was going to label each of them with a specific year, and work her way through them, and keep them, so she could see how she's progressing. Whoa.

The quality of her art itself is nothing to brag about, but only this community could appreciate how even being willing to tackle it is something worth talking about.

I'm convinced that her willingness to tackle art is directly related to some notable successes she's had in both gymnastics and music lately.

Her long-term strategic thinking is quite impressive.

I think you're right Dude, some success after a bit of struggle or simply success after hard work in one area, certainly often inspires all of us to attempt the same in other areas. Self confidence most often comes from success after struggle.

That IS a great step forward in her metacognition and willingness to be courageous in the face of her perfectionism, Dude-- I'm impressed.

It's wonderful that the motivation to learn came from within. She's taking ownership of the responsibility for developing the skill; a great display of a growth mindset.

If she's ever looking for a book as a companion to her sketchbook... many like "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" for DIY art instruction. There are multiple versions/editions, old and new.