Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Math for ages 3-4

LOL... conversation at my house yesterday...

DS5 (to DS2) "What shape is this?"
DS2 "Parallelogram"
DS5 "NO! It's a parallelogram prism!"

You're in good company BBDad!

JB

LOL JB!!!

The other day I called some shape something (memory is foggy) and DS5 said "No mom, it's a rhombus." and he was right. Ain't it fun?

Welcome to the club

Show your son what he wants to. He will let you know when he had enough. We too do lots of dinner math. It got to the point when our younger one, 3 at that time, willingly finished his dinner so he could do math problems!

If you are looking for math workbooks, I suggest Singapore. We sort of used it as a general guide and will use it next year for homeschooling.

We too have lots of dreaded moments. When our older one was 4 he used to welcome people with a chapter book in his hands and then proceeded to read them a few pages. Oops. It was kind of awkward, but part of me did enjoy it

It got even better when he started playing geography games with adults (still at the age of 4). That one I didn't mind, the adults might have because he was by far the best.

I no longer worry about answering questions when we are out of the house. I used to but you cannot really hide it forever. If we are with people we know then chances are really good they've already figured out that DS5 is gt or they will really soon. I was surprised how many appropriate birthday presents the boys got last year. People really know even if they don't talk about it.

If we are among strangers then we speak different language (the kids are bilingual). I cannot describe the freedom it gives you Very handful not only with the gt questions but especially in the tough parenting situations Isa, Ania do you do the same thing?

This is all very reassuring - thanks! I can't tell you how difficult it is emotionally to deal with this, though I imagine everyone else here has already been through it. Recently, when we were on a family vacation, I saw a first-grade math workbook at a bookstore. My immediate thought was that DS would love it! But then I realized how awful it would be to bring it home. DS's grandparents were with us, and the thought of doing a math workbook with our then 3-year-old on vacation would have elicited looks of horror from them. In the end I bought the workbook, spirited it into the house, and let DS play with it for a full hour before the grandparents were awake. Then I hid it away again. Ugh. This does not seem healthy.

BBDad

I agree. It HAS to be okay for him to be who he is. I think it's okay for a child to understand that "showing off" is not okay, but shoot! Around the grandparents, you really must be able to follow the child's lead! You'd think they'd be proud of the kid for being so self-motivated to learn!

It might be time for a talk with them...

Have you done any reading on GT kids? That might help you to deal better with others.

Well, Kriston, I've done as much reading as I can. I'm slowly coming up to speed, but there's a lot of literature. As far as I can tell, the grandparents on one side are of the "it all evens out by third grade anyway" mindset, and on the other side they are the "you want your son to be able to fit in" types. In both cases there's a dash of "let him be a child, for heaven's sake!" thrown in. The funny thing is that these are all people who are very educated and who really value education. But although they will watch him play baseball for hours, they subtly tune out if he wants to talk about numbers. Strange.

Maybe they're the ones who need to be doing the reading, eh?

That's really, really hard. Fear of GTness is really prevalent, especially in that generation. Sad, but true.

I think all you can do is to keep talking to them. Keep encouraging them to accept him--embrace him!--for all that he is. You're a good dad to be on top of this!

hugs BaseballDad! That's tough. It's nice having the inlaws to tell all the accomplishments of the grandkids...made easier since there are no other grandkids.

I think it is a kind of fear, Kriston. I'm not sure where it comes from - I wonder if it's a largely American phenomenon? But it is hard, because this seems such a special feature of DS, and it would be great to be able to share it proudly. I used to tell them about all his accomplishments, but I don't talk about the math things anymore.

AAAACCCCKKKK, I love hearing the accomplishments of my GC! I love to see their eyes light up telling me about what they've learned, or listening to them read to me, etc. I'm sorry it's tough for some of you who don't have supportive (grand)parents.