16
votes
Accepted
Encouraging a child to follow their natural gifts
How do you balance letting this child pursue their interests with letting the child know how much they are throwing away by so quickly disregarding the natural talents?
By recognizing two things: 1. ...
- 72.2k
13
votes
Encouraging a child to follow their natural gifts
The best strategy I've found for this is to give kids lots of opportunities, but not force anything. Forcing things leads them to develop a dislike for what they're forced to do - that's only natural ...
- 63.5k
10
votes
How to parent for an effectively private child?
"Shield him from harmful thoughts he may express in prose"?
Writing them down is absolutely not the problem here and I'm unsure what the issue is with him keeping his notes private. Most kids have ...
- 26.7k
7
votes
Encouraging a child to follow their natural gifts
Being gifted or talented is somewhat overrated, in my opinion, although it is something many idealise. The reality is that most if not all the hugely talented people through history have put in an ...
- 1,186
6
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Kid genius help
Just to add to Timur Shtatlands great advice;
Try to get gifted children to explore things which they normally would not try, for example, if the child really likes science, it is beneficial to ...
- 170
5
votes
Is school punishment for mediocre test results reasonable?
Yesterday I got an email from our daughter's new teacher saying that some of the children performed poorly on a geography quiz and it was "not reflective of their true potential." As punishment she ...
- 8,755
5
votes
Is school punishment for mediocre test results reasonable?
You're not over-reacting, at your daughter's age all you want to be doing is encouraging a love for learning. I was getting those kind of results in high school and neither my parents nor my teachers ...
- 2,796
4
votes
To gifted school or not to gifted school? That is the question
I studied at a school for gifted kids but it was in Ukraine, so take my experiences with a grain of salt as our culture is different, and "special" schools here are different as well.
I was in a ...
4
votes
How to parent for an effectively private child?
I could not agree more with Rory. His was an excellent answer. We all deserve respect and privacy and age has nothing to do with that.
If the child was showing any negative behaviours, like self-...
- 17.4k
3
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To gifted school or not to gifted school? That is the question
I was always ahead of my class at school, but went to a state school. It may have been beneficial to have gone to a school for the gifted, but it wasn't an option where I lived. What helped me was ...
- 26.7k
3
votes
To gifted school or not to gifted school? That is the question
It's impossible to have enough context when it comes to our kids, and every community, family and school is different. With all possible caveats sprinkled with healthy helpings of salt:
The sense ...
- 434
3
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Are there ways to help a gifted child find a best friend?
I was much like your son as a kid. Most people liked me and I could say I was at least a good acquaintance with most people I saw on a semi-regular basis. I would hang around with people but many ...
- 13.3k
3
votes
Accepted
Kid genius help
You could be dealing with a gifted child, perhaps even a so-called "twice exceptional" child. See, for example, the book: Jan Davidson, Bob Davidson, and Laura Vanderkam (2005) "Genius Denied":
https:/...
- 5,313
2
votes
Encouraging a child to follow their natural gifts
I recommend to follow the middle ground between (a) encouraging the development of natural talents of the child as perceived by others and (b) the interests of the child based on the child's own ...
- 5,313
2
votes
Accepted
How to help my 5-year-old brother to improve in Math
Beast Academy has books and online materials for teaching math to kids 8-13: https://beastacademy.com/ .
From what you wrote, your 5-year-old brother could be at the 9-year-old level or higher. For ...
- 5,313
2
votes
8 year old daughter distressed at throwing anything away (packaging, tags etc)
Why might this be happening?
This sounds like something to do with an attachment anxiety. It may have to do with losing a dog or how much time she may have spent in daycare in her first 5 years. It ...
- 184
2
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Are there ways to help a gifted child find a best friend?
I think @Becuzz' answer is key. Just one suggestion for you, though.
I also homeschooled my kids. We belonged to a large weekly co-op, so there were plenty of kids to choose from there. Also, we were ...
- 72.2k
2
votes
What are the pros and cons of having an advanced student skip a mid-elementary grade?
A year and a half later, I want to report back: for our child and our school, this was absolutely the right move. We were already confident that academics would be no problem, and that was true. We ...
2
votes
Are there ways to help a gifted child find a best friend?
It sounds like your son is describing to you what he is feeling using words as he has cried about not having any real friends. I'd like to suggest that although distressing, that is a sign of great ...
- 141
1
vote
To gifted school or not to gifted school? That is the question
I was in a public school but in a 'gifted' program, and have a son who sounds like he's about where yours is but a few years older.
My suggestion is that if your son is a fast learner, to not focus ...
- 63.5k
1
vote
Are there ways to help a gifted child find a best friend?
Adding to what EM C said:
Makerspaces are a wonderful resource for being able to discuss, explore and in most cases, tinker with things.
I'm part of a local one and I think I speak for most members ...
- 2,130
1
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Are there ways to help a gifted child find a best friend?
Depending on where you are there may be organizations specifically for children with special gifts. Mensa is an obvious one, and also the National Association for Gifted Children. They run programs ...
- 10.6k
1
vote
Gifted child at gifted school still dealing with behavior problems
My daughter is incredibly intelligent. I won't bore you with my "proud parent" stories, but I'll share one of the aspects of giftedness that caused her a lot of issues.
In her early elementary school ...
- 3,697
1
vote
How to parent for an effectively private child?
... while still being able to shield him from harmful thoughts...
What does that even mean? I doubt you can shield him from thoughts, harmful or otherwise. Kids do go though periods of terror (afraid ...
- 111
1
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How to parent for an effectively private child?
To allow him to keep developing his talents, leave him alone when he wants to be left alone. Some people are introverts; trying to force them to be extraverted just stresses them out.
The parents ...
- 2,633
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