Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Baby can read

Yep Amazedmom- my DS was obsessed with Magic School Bus from 2 1/2 till almost 4. He has seen every single episode at least 3000 times! Totally his choice. It's funny now at 7 years old, he still remembers almost everything from them and considers it a "baby" show. But I use it with my 6th graders all the time for intro lessons!

DS5 was obsessed with MSB from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 as well and now considers it a toddler thing!

I think ALL kids have the ability to obtain a ton of information in the early years - just like it's easier to teach sign language or another language to a baby or young child than it is an adult or older child. And I believe this is what Baby Can Read does. It takes advantage of children's ability to process information at a young age. And for that reason alone, I don't see anything wrong with parents using it as a tool. This is like having two children, one who is nurtured and one who is ignored... the one who is nurtured will possess qualities of sympathy and empathy, love, caring, etc, and the one who is ignored will not. However this doesn't mean that the one who is nurtured won't have something in his/her genes that will allow him/her to know how to use these qualities (I'm not sure if that makes sense).

On the flip side, I don't believe that reading early in general makes a child gifted at all. And like the other posters have said, I feel it's only hothousing when you are making the child do something (or taking something away from the child if they don't) that he/she doesn't want to. Forcing it...

My first reaction to this is "oof, in that case doesn't every parent hothouse?" but on reflection, the right response is surely "smarter than what?" I certainly want to help my DS get smarter, just as I want to help him get happier, friendlier, more polite, etc.; that seems like just a normal part of parenting. I expect what you meant is something like "smarter than the child's natural level" but I don't actually think there's any such thing. "Hothousing" is just what you call providing an encouraging and stimulating environment when you think someone's doing it beyond what the child is up for (and we should all be very careful about judging that, as it's easy to be wrong if you only see a small part of the interaction). Sorry if this sounds preachy, but I get a bit fed up with how this word is often used as a pejorative that applies to Other People.

I don't want my kid to be or appear to be smarter. Not at all. I also don't want her to be friendlier or happier or more polite. She's plenty happy, friendly, and polite. She's more than plenty smart. Perhaps if she were less happy, friendly, polite, and smart, I might want to change her.

I don't think there's one right way of parenting.

I think that the term 'Hothousing' is used to frighten parents. Intelligent parents - as a group - tend to enjoy doing activities that help develop intelligence. Intelligent children - usually - are very gratifying when you interact with them in ways that promote development of intelligent. But many of us Gifties were told from an early age that if we wanted to do those activities, or - heaven forbid, learn in school, that it was 'our fault, our problem.' So when we finally have children of our own, and want to just have 'our kind of fun' with them, we are always looking over our shoulder, to see who is judging us or calling us names like helicopter or hothousers.

If you are worried about your child burning out, look into information about
Unschooling - Wikipedia, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WZcasSoFuNoJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unschooling+unschooling+wiki&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I think we must be at cross purposes. You don't think improving is part of growing up? At all? Or is it that you don't think you have any role in helping her improve as she grows up? I'm not talking about helping my DS to go up the percentiles as he gets older, not about him getting smarter relative to his peer group - just smarter (etc.) in the sense that he's 6 now and I hope when he's 7, or at least when he's 16, he will be smarter than he is now, otherwise he's had no growth in that area.

Maybe it's just a word choice issue, but both your posts seem to imply that smarter is better, and I just don't see it that way. Of course I expect that DD will change as she grows. Of course I hope that she grows into a healthy, happy person. And of course I don't think that it is healthy to stop developing cognitively or physically. I also don't think that DD would be happy if she wasn't learning new things.

But as far as my role is concerned, no, I don't think it is my job to "improve" her in the areas of intelligence, happiness, politeness, or friendliness. (Nor do I, as a doting parent, think that she could be improved upon.) My job is to keep her safe, to love her, and to help her when she asks me for help.

I think it is (largely) a word choice issue; specifically, I think we're using the word "smart" to mean two very different things. My "getting smarter" is (by my intention) pretty much synonymous with your "developing cognitively"*. As for the other distinction you draw, I'm interested in helping my DS to develop rather than in developing him against his will - although we are not unschoolers, and I do direct to some extent, so it is possible we aren't 100% in agreement!

*thinking about it, I could believe that this is non-standard usage. Sorry for the confusion if so: I'm British, so in my native language being "smart" actually means wearing polished shoes and an ironed shirt!

On the sign reading point. IMO reading Mcdonalds and Coke may not be reading, but being able to apply those written words elsewhere 'Old Mcdonald' for instance, and seeing the word 'joke' and 'getting that it's like 'coke' is. Gifted readers do this, not because it is pointed out to them, but because words appeal to them. This is just based on my experience with DS now 9.

p.s. Translation of smart - American to English = clever.

I'm going to leave the hothousing issue ... back to you guys:-)