Gifted Child

I don't often post here - far too busy with teaching and my family - but I just returned from visiting our eldest child. He is a freshman at a highly selective east coast college. He was never "officially"tested, although he did pass the entrance requirements for our full-time gifted magnet program in elementary and middle school. He was however, a National Merit Finalist with very high college entrance scores and an impressive list of college acceptances.

I worried if he would actually step up to the plate and work in college since he had NEVER had to work hard during his pre-college years, even in his many AP classes. For all of you who are worried about this very problem, and I know you are out there (!!), I have a positive outcome. For the first time, school is challenging for him. He is loving the actual grind of studying. He is not getting all A's, and is not bothered by that. He loves the work, his classmates and most everything about college life.

I can see myself in so many of the posts here, as I read about the worries of parents with young children. I too, had many of the same worries, although, less with #2, and even less with #3. I think the most important thing to encourage in your gifted  child is a love of learning rather than solely the grade, or the desire to be the best, and also, resilience, because at some point, your child will need to know how to bounce back from difficult situations.

Good luck to all of you -- it is quite a ride!

Maggie

Thanks for the positive feedback :) I have one in college and one on the way (she's a senior) and I have found the same thing. The older they get, the more they get to self-select into groups of "smart kids," who think like them. Even in HS, it's a pain to take some of the regular requirements because the kids around them and in their group presentations don't think as much or care as much as they do. In some ways, college is a relief because they are with groups of people who like school and studying and thinking and learning. We were at a visit to U of Chicago this summer and my hs senior was enraptured - they made it sound like you just sat around discussing books and philosophy and big ideas...  her idea of heaven, lol!

As far as the other kids, I think it's a mix. I worry far, far less, but I also have a better sense of the opportunities available, in a way I didn't with my first.

Theresa