Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion gifted kids and connections to a "spiritual world"

My 7yo daughter is obsessed with fairies, building them houses, and helping them collect nuts and berries. She does this at home and at school during recess. She has established a fairy club at school to help her. Its very charming. I can see her imagination churning. She is such a tactile learner, that its nice to see her have the oportunity to experience the world that way.

I do think she believes the fairies are real. She checks up on their villages daily. Maybe I should ask her what they look like? I haven't wanted to ask too much - I think it might discourage her.

There have been a few times I have been "aware" of spirits. Once I thought on of my neighbors was in our kitchen - we had bought the house from him. Later, I learned he had died the day before. I was post-partum and sleep deprived so who knows?

The there was a ghost in our old apartment that would switch the laundry around in the washer and dryer. I thought I was crazy until the landlord who lived upstairs commented that her laundry also seemed to get switched around. The house was 200 yo. We had separate laundry facilities so its not like we were doing it to each other.

I wonder about gifted kids and religion. It seems like 7ish is a time when there is a lot of who believes in god polling on the playground and kids telling each other that they are going to go to hell if they don't go to the church they do. My daughter seems to roll with this better than I do - we are Unitarian. The Jesus and hell stuff just doesn't fit with our world view. I am mulling over how to talk to dd about what we believe w/o saying negative stuff about what some of her schoolmates believe. I think what dd believes is really heartfelt and understood at more mature level than some of her non-gifted schoolmates who are just repeating dogma. That may sound harsh, but I am very protective of her. And I'm waiting until I calm down before talking to dd about this.

Both my kids attend Sunday School at my parents' church. DS5.5 is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay into religion, acceptance and questioning it. He has like 3 Bibles that he looks at and reads religiously (ah, sorry). His acceptance of God and Jesus (my parents and kids are Christian) is truly amazing.

He has never really said that he's seen someone who has passed, but he has an older half brother that passed away when he was 6 weeks old (DH's son), and DS always talks about him.

DD4(in 10 days) doesn't see ghosts or what have you, but she has MAJOR issues with the things in her room "talking" to her at night. So either it's more than her imagination or she's schizo. I tend to think the former. ha.

Now I will say that I have noticed that ND kids at younger ages also easily accept the spiritual world, religion, etc... I think that while GT might go "deeper" into it, young kids have extremely open/non-cluttered minds to accept things that may or may not be questioned by adults (i.e., religion, ghosts, etc).

I'm a bit cautious about bringing this up on most forums, but hopefully people here will take it as it is given. I practice shamanism (and teach about it as well) and the concept of "imagination" is a very real and concrete part of the practice although many of you will probably accept and understand the term visualization more easily. This practice is a large part of what allows a practitioner to connect with the spirit world. it's not quite the same imagination that creates GI Joe fights, but it is related.

Children, since they haven't yet taken to heart the concept that imagination isn't "real," naturally have a stronger connection to the spirit world. They tend to be more receptive to sensing other presences. This is true for all children, not just gifties. However from my personal experience I have a feeling that if our kids focus on this ability they will probably have just as much success with it as they do anything else they focus on.

We moved in with my mom to take care of her before she died, when DS was 2 1/2. She had about a month of hospice care on the downhill slide. The night she was dying (would die, at 7 am, that is), I was up with her and DS woke up hungry in the middle of the night. He went with me to the kitchen to get a snack, and while we were in there he looked at the clock and said "3:10"--it was actually 2:15, but I was impressed because the hands are in the same basic place for either of those. Anyway, he then stood there looking into the air intently, and then said "Gagaw sick, go bye-bye." I looked around to see if I could see anybody there, it looked so much like somebody telling him that. Mom died a few hours later, and there was a great deal of what I consider evidence that someone, my dad or my grandpa, I think, came along to help her go. I really think that they were talking to DS that night, or that she was out of her body and telling him goodbye herself.

Well, I came to the site today to search the topic of "death" because DD 2.75 has been discussing death and God with me these past two weeks.

Last week she made this comment out of the blue: "God takes people who are very old or who are sick." I stared at her. She continued, "God's going to take me." I don't like that part. I say, "Oh yeah? Where's God going to take you?" She says, "All around the world." I can't help but wonder if she's somehow picked up the concept that the world is round. Other than that, I am impressed with her concept of death and God and let it stay at that.

Today in the car she asks, "Does God die?" I gave her a very long-winded answer for "no." She says again, "God is going to take me." She's been sick for several weeks now, so I'm becoming paranoid she has lymphoma or something more ominous than the common cold! "God is going to take you when you are 100 years old," I say.

I asked DD's preschool teacher then called her grandmother who was just visiting last week, and neither have had conversations about God or death with DD. She does not watch any unsupervised television.

I was wondering at what age children develop a concept of God and also of mortality.

My ds6 said he saw a lady in our house one day when he was hanging out with my dh. He just turned around and said, "there's a lady right there in the dining room. She looks like Mom (I was not home.) and she's wearing a towel around her, and her hair is wet." We live on a lake, and a previous owner did die in the backyard by the lake after suffering a heart attach. Not sure if this is relevant or related at all. Ds was very matter of fact about it. He said she was calling to him, but that he didn't hear her voice and she wasn't motioning to him. He just knew she wanted him to come to her. (He stayed put!) He wasn't afraid though.

He also swears there's a ghost of a dog in our beach house. He said he's seen it a couple of times sitting in the chair in his bedroom and it usually runs away quickly. He isn't scared of this one either.

Dh and I are not sure what to think, but dh says ds was very serious and matter-of-fact about the lady in the house. Interestingly, about a month after I moved into the house (dh and I just got married about 2 years ago. My first husband, ds's biological father, died in a car accident we were all in when ds was 4 mos old.) I looked out the front window and for a brief moment I thought I saw a lady standing next to our detached garage. It happened two or three times, but I haven't seen that in a long time. It's like it happens so quickly you're not sure you actually saw what you think you saw. Does that make sense?

I have often wondered if my ds is more sensitive to spirits. He's sensitive to everything else, that's for sure!!! He's always been very interested in death from an early age. He's not afraid of it, and he's had quite a bit of experience with losing people close to him. He talks about death and afterlife quite a lot. We are Catholic, although dh and I are certainly not devout. We like to have a community of people who believe in something, although I don't believe there's one religion that's right. I just know in my heart that there's something more than what we see on the surface in our lives now. I don't push any religion on my ds, but I do talk about God. Ds has his own beliefs, and while we read a children's Bible together, he usually says, "well, I don't think that REALLY happened. It's just a story to teach a lesson." He's not sure Jesus is the son of God, but he believes he could be or maybe he's just a great man who lived in a way we should all try to live. It's funny b/c he believes similar to what I believe, although I do not try to force ds to believe one way or another. I try to teach him about lots of religions and beliefs and allow him to make his own decisions. He definitely believes in an afterlife, although the idea of ghosts has him stumped. He's not sure if they are just visiting or if they are at some in-between point. I have to admit, I wonder the same thing, but I'm not sure I really thought about it at 4,5, or 6 years old!

This isn't about DS being spiritual but rather what was said to him. WTF, no,no, it's not what you think - it's Weird, Freaky, True.

When DS was three he was having a particularly bad day about the fact that he wasn't 5, like his sister, and therefore couldn't go to school. So I decided we would go to the park and then out for lunch.

We were sitting in a cafe and after a while I noticed an elderly lady, two tables away, staring at DS. It didn't bother me and as it continued I just thought she was probably not so much looking at him as through him. Eventually she came over and introduced herself stating at the same time she was 99 years old. We exchanged some pleasantries and then out of the blue she said DS has an aura. I said yeah......ok........meaning. She then proceeded to tell me that she has had a spiritual gift all her life and that DS has an old soul, a very old soul and is wise far, far beyond his years. Freaky but True!

P.S. She worked it out long before I did. Maybe I should have taken more notice.

Considering the fact that have never believed in ghosts this is going to sound strange (even to me) but we have a ghost in our house. Used to have two, but we managed to make one of them , a child go away after a friend of ours Grandmother exercised our house. She was visiting from Ireland where she is highly regarded as a Shaman. I know this sounds like a bad movie but we had a child ghost that would turn on cartoons in the middle of the night, play all of the loud obnoxious toys that kids have etc. Did I mention the fact that all of the toys and tv are downstairs, while all of the people are upstairs? The other is an old man. My DS has brought him up several times, asked me once why he never comes downstairs. Everyone in the house has seen him on more than one occasion. And I still don't believe in ghosts!

The second thing is that although all kids have imaginary friends at some point, my son seems to have a special relationship with his. He's very matter of fact that his friend is around, has no problem with the knowledge that no one can see him and has maintained this friendship? for over 3 years now. He only interacts with "Juice" at home and when questioned he replied "Juice can't leave the house." I've always found this a little unnerving from a child who sees the entire world in black and white. He is as a rule an extremely logical kid. He didn't care for Harry Potter because "it couldn't be true".

As far as God goes... His words "The jury is still out"

With DS I don't know about God, but he was 4 when he developed the concept of mortality. It wasn't a pleasant time for him, or me, as he agonised over the thought that I might die and leave him. It lasted about 6-12 months, but he would repeatedly say to me "If you die I want to die too. I don't want to be left here without you".