Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums question about almost 2 year old...

Welcome Onesie!
So glad you found us before you had much chance to go quiet and get lonely. One was enough for me too. I didn't get 'the urge' again until DS12 was 5 years old. He kept me worn out! Anyone looking for a Darwinian answer to why highly gifted kids are so rare, when one would think that giftedness would help one survive better and make more offspring, doesn't have to look any farther than that dampening effect some little gifties have on their parents.

I'm sure you know from teaching that even when working one to one with a child, they all catch on at differently. It's ok that you have incorporated fun learning into your lives.

What age group do you teach. I'm guessing you teach much older kids, because if you were a Kindy teacher, you would know that most children's readiness is just developing in K.

Is she gifted? Well I'll tell you that there isn't any set definition of 'what is gifted' - so you don't have to worry if she passes the test - there isn't any test!

I think of gifted as having special educational needs that aren't likely to be met in a regular classroom. It's the kid who walks into your class on the first day already knowing 75% of what you were planning to teach that whole year. Or the kid who makes jokes that you enjoy, but go right over the heads of their classmates.

Many gifted children come from families that include lots of other gifted people, so one thing you can do to prepare yourself (besides saving your cash, and developing a flexable way to earn a living so that if homeschooling is a must, you will be ready) is to start journaling on your own growing up experiences and talking to family members on both sides about their experiences. Was anyone in the family grade skiped? subject accelerated? A giant underachiever? A recovered underachiever? You may as well start dusting off the elephants.

I also echo the 'she IS just a toddler' advice. I found it very difficult and confusing to be 'sharing logic' with a toddler. Some discribe gifted as 'Asynchrouous Development' so that they litterally ARE many different ages at once. Anyway - do what you can to preserve your status as 'Pack Leader.'

Big Smiles,
Grinity

you are all wonderful!! thank you so much for the comments! I can not type much now, I have yet to feed myself and husband so I much go...just wanted to say thanks!

Chat soon!

I have one small comment about being afraid to have more than one. I have to say having another GT kid to Entertain my older GT kid is MUCH EASIER than trying to entertain either on my own. My two boys are 4 and 2, and 18 months apart. Though #2 was surprise baby, I think God was blessing DS4 by sending him a brother. They get along incredibly well and DS 2.5 is the only one who understands DS4 and plays so incredibly imaginatively as DS4. They're always on some adventure. Other kids so do not relate with DS4 and I"m so glad both boys will have each other to grow up with and have such a great friend that can relate with them. Though the first year was hard for sure. It is so great now! I highly recommend such a situation to everyone! *Laughs*

Sounds about right!!

Our son ( 8m3w) is a handful as well and pretty much demands all our attention all the time. It helps that he has his fav TV shows and has the dexterity to play with books so we can have an hour or just 30 minutes to get things done around the house.

But even then that does not work - this AM he crawled into the bathroom when I was showering and pulled back the shower curtain to complain!

Reading Dr Ruf's book helped a lot as well.

Thank you for all the replies! Thank you for the encouragment and the comments about having more than one! I guess by choosing a nickname like "one-is-enough!" is bit of a giveaway! I would love to have another child in the house...but I just don't want to give birth again! The other requirement is that the child must arrive over the age of 2! I'm not sure my husband and I can pull off that miracle...not only would he have to carry/deliver the baby, but he would have to carry a 2 year old! HAHA We'll see what happens.

We have an only child who is now 13. We have never had any regrets. I hated being pregnant. I hate having my attention divided--even having a cat and a baby at the same time seemed like too much! I love that I still have time for my career. I love that we have the resources to devote to doing extras together as a family and nurture DS's passions. He is a happy, social, adaptable kid with no signs of being spoiled. We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids and he spends most of his free time roaming around with the neighborhood kids--I never worry that he is lonely.

Where we live, onlies are very rare. People in our town seem to assume that the only reason for having an only is that "something went wrong." In my mind, wanting one is as healthy and normal as wanting more than one or none at all.

Oh I totally agree. It is hard to think of life as an only child. I grew up with 2 brothers and we spent so much time playing together...holidays were always fun too. So it is hard to understand what an only child will experience, but obviously they are happy and experience different things while growing up.

My delivery was horrible...everything went wrong (but the final outcome was a perfect daughter, so well wroth it!), and the first 16 months was so hard. She cried non stop for months and months, so still doesn't sleep, she is quite demanding and almost bossy now! But things are getting fun now...what a little personality!

Anyhow...I miss work, and I honestly don't know how long we can afford to have me not working, so I think #2 will most likely not happen...but I will say you never know!

Mine is an 6yo only ... I'd love to have another someday, but right now I'm pretty happy he's an only. He takes enough of my attention as it is! And he was an *awful* baby -- very high needs, needing to be held, engaged, moving constantly.

My pregnancy was a dream and couldn't have been smoother, so I'm not too afraid of another from that standpoint -- and I love those demanding newborn moments, they're my favorite part of parenting. I'm a baby person. It's the money that's an issue! GT kids are *expensive*!

I have a very large family (7 of us in all) and I do feel sad that he won't have that sibling connection ... even if I had another one tomorrow, they'd be so far apart that they'd essentially be onlies. But he certainly get the joy of undivided attention!

We have an 8 and 2.5; yes 2.5 almost did not happen - hitting the age wall there, finances, etc! but, it seemed like we should give it a shot. Despite the age gap, they get along nicely, fight in the back seat of the car together, and so on. Ds8 is gt but dd2.5 seems crazy-gt so she keeps up with him pretty darn well! There are pros and cons to all size families to be sure

oh, I'm going to jump in and echo what another poster said, and that it is MUCH EASIER to have two GT kids than one GT kid constantly needing interaction with tired older parents.

my 2 cents