Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion I'm so Proud

Grinity, I did exactly the same thing! Genius Denied has description of unbelievably smart kids, so not DS5. Well, here we are, the kid is DYS. May be that's why the IQ tests took me by such a surprise.

I think JBDad's point that they're all different--so even though your child doesn't do that particular thing that some other astonishing child does doesn't mean they're not HG+--is a vital one.

What's your child's "thing" is going to be different from the "thing" of some other HG+ child. You can't really compare apples to oranges. I like to point out that milestones can help a parent to recognize GTness, but I don't think that their *not* reaching early milestones should be used to rule out GTness. There are too many complicating factors there.

It can be reassuring to those of us in GT denial to say, "Oh, well, my child can't do THAT, so we can mange easily" though, can't it?

Thanks everyone for the congratulations. It's so nice to find a place that I can tell someone in excitement something my DD did -- not to brag but to celebrate a milestone and to cheer her on. And everyone here is genuinely happy for her, not thinking something like, "Well, my kid can do this, so what's the big deal," with a jealous over-tone.

I'm so inspired by the complexities of these children and how different they all are. And yes, I guess I am in GT-denial. She's so young still that sometimes we think maybe she's just an average smart person or maybe we're making something out of nothing. Not to mention she's our first-born, so we have no stinkin' clue what's ND and what's GT.

On a lighter note, I took DD to get her haircut the other day, and when we were done, she got off the chair and trotted to the waiting area in the front of the salon. I sauntered over there to see what she was doing, thinking she had gone back to look at the magazines again. Instead, she was standing right in front of the high school girl that's the receptionist. The girl was sweeping the floor and DD took it upon herself to nuzzle right in front of the girl and grab a hold of the broom too, no doubt to help her! DD is always ready to help someone do something whether they need it or not!

A lot of us find it hard to share our children's accomplishments. My mother told me a long time ago she stopped telling her friends about her grandchild and what he could do because to quote her "they just didn't believe me." I thought she was exaggerating and, honestly, I thought she was being a little bit silly. It wasn't until I started sharing my stories with other parents and got a few incredulous looks of my own that I too stopped talking about DS.

But... this is a great forum to share! Keep sharing.

JB

My daughter was 2.5 when she read Dollar at the Dollar Rent a Car. It was a moment like wow, but then I think maybe many kids do this. They don't. Now, you have to think about schools. Yes, start now reading these posts and understanding your child's needs, and what her personality is like and the options available. Time flies as you go through these years.

Ren

YEAH HoosierMommy. I just love watching them reach those milestones, whenever they happen!

I recall when DS5 was 2.5 or so, he saw an unmarked truck which said "FedEX." It wasn't the FedEX colors which is quite unusual. He says "Oh that says FedEX." I'm thinking, "how does he know that b/c it's not the typical colored FedEX truck." So I ask him. He looks at me like I'm being silly and sounds out "well mommy, it says /f/ /e/ /d/ /e/ /ks/. Well there you go.

HoosierMommy - always feel free to brag here! I remember the early years of disbelief, thinking "someone must have just told that to DS" and only being able to tell my mom about the things DS was saying/doing. It was a real comfort to find this site.

Dazey - that's so funny! "well, duh, mom!"

Hi HoosierMommy!

Love the proud mommy moment! Loads more to come!

I'm so glad you have a place where you are *allowed* to brag.

My DH and I are so confused as to what to do with DD about preschool. Since she knows a lot of the preschool curriculum, I was thinking of just finding some kind of activity for her to do with other kids her age for socialization. And then I'll just keep teaching her at home until she's ready for school.

Is that what a lot of you guys did??

I'm afraid if she goes to preschool, she's going to feel out-of-place when all the kids and teachers figure out that she knows her alphabet, colors, shapes and how to read. I've read some posts about preschool sometimes being detrimental to the child's self-concept and self-esteem. Then again, they're so young -- does all of these problems really start so early?

As you can tell, I'm clueless. Little DD has really thrown her mommy and daddy for a loop!

It completely depends on the personality of your child and the preschool options.

My DS, who was reading sight words starting around 2, never had any trouble with day care. They did tumbling, dance, crafts (totally open-ended without a project goal), educational computer games, music, food preparation, swimming lessons, story time, trips to the park, and lots of blocks and books, and toys etc. They believed that young children learn best through open-ended play and since there was going to be plenty of didactic instruction in kindergarten, there was no need to do very much of that in pre-school.