1/28/2024 0 Comments Gifted kids![]() After all, a person who dons facepaint for every football game probably more readily appreciates someone who has forty-two team bumper stickers on the back of their car, even if they don’t follow the same team or even the same sport: devotion is devotion, and like recognizes like.Īs you may know very well, this intensity is not always received well by those only familiar with “standard-issue” children, whether in a classroom or on a sports team. Again, you may be very different from your child, but as a gifted adult, you are perhaps better able to understand or recognize the degree of passion they demonstrate about their latest interest. Gifted children and adults may also share another characteristic that does not always manifest in the same way: intensity. Another commonly cited definition, from The Columbus Group, also stresses the non-intellectual implications of giftedness, explaining that “advanced cognitive abilities and heightened intensity combine to create inner experiences and awareness that are qualitatively different from the norm” (Columbus Group, 1991). Your own giftedness may also make it easier for you to empathize when things aren’t going well - for instance, you can relate to how frustrating it can be to not have your ideas or questions taken very seriously because you’re so young, or perhaps you remember how it feels to want to take a book to the playground at recess even though you weren’t allowed to. You likely have some coping skills of your own that you can offer, too - and by virtue of having made it to “the other side” of childhood giftedness, you serve as an exemplar for your child, in addition to being able to offer them authentic validation about their feelings.Īnnemarie Roeper, founder of the Roeper School and a pioneer in gifted education, describes giftedness as “a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity, and a greater ability to understand and to transform perceptions into intellectual and emotional experiences” (Roeper, 1982). Your memories of being different from others your own age can indeed be helpful in understanding and helping your child cope with difference. For example, perhaps you are a word-lover - a bibliophile of the highest order - and your child is (gasp!) not as inclined in that direction, or perhaps instead you (the bibliophile) have a young mathematician in your house, or a young computer scientist. Just because you may not share a particular “flavor” of giftedness with your child, that does not mean that you don’t benefit from the “been there, done that” experience of your own giftedness, however. What kind of impact does it have on a family for gifted adults to raise gifted children? Intuitively, the answer seems like a positive one: surely, being familiar with the experience of being gifted yourself can only help you in parenting a gifted child… right?įirst, there is the distinct possibility that your giftedness may be expressed or focused on completely different things than your child’s. Research reflects that giftedness does “run in families”: for a gifted child, their genetically-related relatives - siblings and/or parents - are likely to also be gifted, though there are plenty of exceptions. Afterwards, many of the VIPs report first that they realize their own children “were” likely gifted, too - and then, that they, themselves, have many of the same characteristics that we talk about. The same thing happens on VIP Day at our school, when many of our students’ guests are grandparents or other relatives their day at Grayson includes a presentation at which they can learn more about giftedness and how it impacts what they need at school. (What they actually say most of the time is that they “were” gifted, as though giftedness is something you grow out of. ![]() One of the things we hear from parents over and over again is that in discovering their child’s giftedness and trying to find a school environment right for them, they eventually realize that they, too, are gifted. Parents of gifted children, who are often gifted themselves, parent (and experience) their children’s intensity through the lens of their own intensity awareness of this complex dynamic can help mitigate the potential for escalation.
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