Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Altruism in young gifted

I think I remember reading about this somewhere....

Anyway, today DD 3.2 was in the car while were driving to get lunch. She started telling me she wanted to have a lemonaid stand. I asked her what she would do with the money she made from it. She said "I want to give it to people who need money to go to the grocery store." I said "What?" and she said "It takes money to buy food and some people don't have money for it. So I want to share my money with them."

I have no clue where this came from. It was so out of the blue, and as bad as it sounds...we have never talked about things like this before with her. Somehow she worked this all out. I was really floored.

This is common with gifted children from what I've learned. Some examples with dd7 when she was about 4 she talked about how when she grew up she would be a doctor and go to Africa to help the children there. She didn't go to pre-school so I'm not sure where she got that ideal. She also goes on and on about cleaning up the world and then fixing it. She has many ideals about this. I love this part of her thinking, how concerned she is for others and their well being.

DS7 is also HUGE on cleaning up the Earth. He is the one who implemented our home recycling. He cried when we had a ditch dug for water pipes to our house because it "must hurt the Earth badly." He winces when he sees litter and proclaimed (when he was only 3) "I KNOW that is NOT good for the Earth!" We have to carry cans and bottles around til we find a recycling bin...we cannot put them in the trash...he gets sick to his stomach! Like you said, Amanda, we haven't talked about this with him...he has picked it up and acted on it all alone. Which I love Nan

Skylersmommy is dead on: very common with gifted children. I remember one mother (on a different board) sharing about her son (in 1st grade) who stumbled on the idea of the need for fresh water and how the cost of a simple well was roughly $13,000.00. He had found his mission and started project after project from a lemonade stand to garage sale to many things in between so he could raise money to help dig a well. In a matter of a month he had collected over $1500. I thought it a wonderful project and if I remember correctly he took it to his class and they all got on board to take on the mission.