Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Not-really-brag-so-much-as-quirky- anecdote thread

This reminds me of a memorable trip to east coast & NYC when DS was 11/12. Most of the trip was about looking at colleges for my DD. DS spend the entire trip reading HP from cover to cover. Almost all my pictures of him from that trip have him plopped down in some odd place with one of the HP books.

What I did to keep our luggage to a minimum was bought him used paperback copies of the books. I bought a few as we went along even though we owned an entire hardback set and then some. (It's helped it was HP he was reading because it was easy to find.) And sent some home with DH as wasn't along for the whole trip. I bought DS one of those small 'string' backpacks' and he would carry his current book everywhere. It was cute...

If HP had been available as an ebook I would have gone that route. Sounds like time to get the kids who is traveling with tons of books an e-book of some sort.

P.S. As to eating at dinner. We all read the newspaper during breakfast/lunch. Dinner reading matter isn't allowed. There were exceptions like when my kids were younger and were were eating out where there would be a lot of waiting time or grownup talk. And then reading was only for the waiting time, not eating time.

Welcome, JessicaJune.
I had the second trimester parent-teacher meeting last Friday with the math teacher. She went on and on about how my DS has only 2 more years left to be a kid (he is in 3rd grade) and that middle school meant heavy responsibilities and could I please let DS play in the summer at least this year instead of doing math? And could I stop all those unnecessary after school math classes because she teaches awesome math? And that DS seems to know every thing already and it is unfairly ruining the "discovery" aspect of math for the other kids when DS blurts out the answers.
I told her that DS attends camps in the summer (hands on science camp and sports camp) and we have never sent him to after school math classes. She does not believe me

To get DS6 and DS4 to eat breakfast a bit more quickly during the week (takes forever otherwise), one of us sits down with them and reads books to them - I don't turn the page unless they take another bite. It works like a charm. I know, we spoil them. And heaven forbid I keep reading if one of them has to run to the bathroom!

Littlest DC just stumped high school older sib and elite college-educated parent at 20 questions..."that wall" (in our house).

Of course, the same little person had hysterics earlier today because the waistband on some new clothing needed to be taken in RIGHT NOW.

aeh - books on the floor during dinner! That is so funny! I've had books on the lap, but so far, my kids haven't tried the floor. I used to mention to neighbors or friends what I thought were funny stories about DS and his reading obsession. Until I realized that everyone thought I was crazy and told me that they can't get their kids to read under any circumstance. For instance, bedtime is around 8, and DS is allowed to read quietly until around 9, but sometimes I set an alarm to check his room around 11 to make sure he isn't still up reading. Sometimes I'm even the 'mean Mom' who physically removes all new reading material from his room late at night so he'll get some sleep. (But only when he's been really tired and I can tell he's been staying up too late reading.) And once, I told another Mom that I don't really have to punish DS because I just have to threaten to not take him to the library or to take away books.

Ashley - I'd say that I'm shocked that your child's math teacher said that, but even my own mother once made a comment to me that elementary school shouldn't be academically rigorous and that I should just be happy that DS wasn't struggling with the schoolwork.

DD5 is only in Kindergarten but I feel so blessed that her teacher understands that her love of reading comes within. When she was coming home with literature books that seemed over her head, I asked her teacher to bring it down a bit because I wasn't sure how much she was actually comprehending but her reply was that DD is very good about monitoring her own understanding and when she doesn't understand something, she almost always asks.

I know we won't always be this lucky with teachers so I'm going to enjoy this while I can. How I will MISS her next year.

I hate getting mad at DD for wanting to read but she definitely prefers reading to sleeping and she needs to sleep.

I once punished 8yo DD by taking away all her Warriors books (wretched series about warrior cats) and hiding them in a very difficult location. There really wasn't any other consequence that meant anything to her. She would sneak around the house before we got up looking for them.

DD3 is full of one line zingers... and I worry what she will be like in a few years...

for instance, as we are trying to get the kids to the car to go home for dinner, she takes off for the playground, hollering "I have to go to the playground because I did not get enough exercise!"

and then last week, we applied sunscreen before checking the UV forecast - DD asked to see it, so DH showed it to her, and oddly, the UV forecast was low. She immediately asked for paper towels, stating "I have to wipe off the sunscreen - I don't need it"

DS7 doesn't like to read that much but he's obsession with the puzzle games are just like how some of your kiddos reading books. Just last night, it was already bed time, he insisted that he wanted to do more brain/puzzle games on this big book we bought him for b-day gift. I told him it's too late but he would not listen and brought the book upstairs anyway. I allowed him to do a few puzzles before he was finally satisfied and put the book down to sleep.

Ajinlove, DH asks me how I can do a puzzle at bedtime, even after reading. For me it seems to organize and settle my mind. Likewise our DS17 likes to do his math homework or explorations just before he goes to bed. So maybe your DS is on to something