Parenting a gifted child is a delicate balance: You know your child has incredible potential, so naturally, you want to see her live up to it. At the same time, however, you’re probably aware that gifted children are highly sensitive and tend to be hard on themselves… Meaning that parental enthusiasm and guidance can easily feel like crushing pressure ...
For gifted children, relaxation is often hard to come by. Not only can their bright and creative minds conjure up endless reasons to worry, these children are often perfectionists. They’re prone to being highly critical of themselves and can therefore become unhealthily driven. Alternately, they may be immobilized by fears of failure and rejection. It is therefore little wonder ...
Middle school is generally believed to be the most troubling transitional period in a child’s life. The abrupt change of moving from one school to another is followed by hormonal shifts, social upheaval, and a sudden driving need for independence that often causes stress at home. It is within this maelstrom that young people must begin to find their ...
Strong-willed children are often maligned owing to how difficult they are for parents and other authority figures to manage; frequently labelled as disruptive, unruly, or “difficult,” these children also typically possess a range of untapped gifts. When appropriately nurtured, these spirited young people often grow up to be great leaders and visionaries—possessing a great deal of creativity, passion, and ...
Politics has always been a controversial topic, but rarely has our political climate been as divisive as it is right ...
The last two years have been a period of prolonged stress and isolation for many people, leading to an increase ...
Every child differs in his/her developmental capacity and pace. Some children learn to speak earlier than others. Some learn ...
“We are all gifted and we are all disabled.” These were the remarks of a developmental psychologist who I heard speak at a workshop. What a powerful reminder that as part of the human condition, we are each blessed with unique gifts, abilities and talents, and we each experience our own challenges in navigating life. What does this mean for ...
Not all gifted children automatically flourish at school; for some, academic activities seem to be a source of frustration or boredom, even as those same children will happily apply considerable effort to demanding activities outside of school, exhibiting a great deal of creative potential. While many parents and educators are quick to assume a behavioral issue when presented with the ...
Too often, the emotional side of giftedness is overlooked; for all that we laud the intellectual complexity of giftedness, seldom do we contemplate—let alone praise—the emotional depth and complexity that accompanies it. The added emotional complexity of gifted children manifests in many different ways. It cannot be said that gifted children simply feel “more” than their non-gifted counterparts; ...
Many parents are shocked by the idea that one might be able to “test” for creativity; how, they wonder, can such a magical and intangible quality possibly be measured and quantified? The answer, of course, is “imperfectly”, but emerging neuroscientific research has given us a fairly accurate glimpse into both the regions of the brain responsible for producing creative thought ...
