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

Both of my children potty trained at 4 and 1/2.

Older son had developmental delays and he just didn't get it and then after that we had holding issues that led to constipation and OH MY GOD it was horrible. He wasn't out of a night time pull up until 8 and it was finally about then that I was able to stop worrying if he had a bm that day or not.

Younger son was just stubborn. Needed to potty train for Pre-K 4 so he did in a week in April while his older brother was at a Spring Break camp and we weren't distracted and was ready to go in August. His night time was about a month later.

PL (too) early is one area I regret.

I thought I had to get her completely off diapers by 30 months because kids needed to be trained by the time of preschool application but that wasn't exactly the determining factor. We had been cloth diapering since birth and after 24 months, I was done washing dirty diapers but I was too invested in cloth diapers to switch to disposables.

If I were to do it all over again, I'd make it a much more child-led process.

...or when your 4-year-old reads a book and your teacher coworkers want you to raise their children.

...or when your same 4-year-old randomly reads the word "mahogany" off a crayon and strangers remark on it with disbelief.

You know you're parenting a gifted child when...

you borrow some "read together" books from the library to read with your preschooler. Then they decide to read the pages for adults, and have you read the pages for kids.

When...

When rapid fire Questions that come up at dinner with a 6 year old are:

Can you tell me exactly what happened after the Big Bang? I don't completely understand the solar nebula.

What happens when the caterpillar is inside a chrysalis? Is it a chemical process? I have known forever that is when they turn into a butterfly, but I want details.

How is dirt made? I know it is all around us, and earthworms help make nutrients in it, but how is it made to begin with?

And yeah, we had issues with potty training too.

And....when the books read aloud to the Kindergarten class were books she first read independently two years ago. And..when DD turns out to be on a higher reading level than her 4th grade reading mentor at school.

When you find yourself quoting Gandalf from the episode with the Balrog for your DS2.9. You watch a clip of the scene, he describes Gandalf's hair as "bedraggled", and he proceeds to stab the ground with a shovel crying, "You shall not pass!" when DH tries to use the washroom.

Yeah...BTDT

Out of the blue one night a few weeks ago -
DS8: "I know a number that you should never do in binary."
Me rather confused: "Uh what"
DS8: 132
Me still confused: "Uh ok. Why?"
DS8: "I'll get in trouble"
Me: "I give you permission and you won't get in trouble this one time."
DS8 with a smirk then holds up both middle fingers at me and then explained how each finger was a digit and 0010000100 == 132

When I told this to DH he laughed and explained that they had been using binary and their fingers to keep track of the score at DD's soccer game earlier. I asked if he had gone up that high or if he had helped him figure it out and he said they had only done up to 15.

To add to this, we were at a science museum today and they had a thing on binary. I spent 5 minutes trying to explain it to my mom and I'm pretty sure she was just saying she got it to get me to shut up in the end. Then DS came over and said it's easy grandma and rattled a bunch of them off with his fingers for her and then explained it. She looked over at me while this was happening with a hilarious look on her face. I think she's starting to get it.

Reminds me of the first standardized test we ever had DD take. At six, she expressed profound exasperation with me because I was trying to impose somewhat standard proctoring conditions with her. It was a second grade test, and I was dutifully reading the instructional portion for each section, when she interrupted me;

MAMA! {deep sigh} I already read all of that. You do NOT need to read the directions to me. I am NOT a baby. I can even read it upside DOWN by the time you get through telling it all to me. PLEASE stop reading it out loud.

...when your 2YO starts singing the ABC's backwards because he's tired of singing them the normal way