For many parents, having a child who seems unusually introverted is a relief. There’s little need to worry about him sneaking off to parties, staying out past his curfew socializing, or getting into many other common forms of mischief. A quiet child is, according to conventional wisdom, a “good” child. If you’re the parent of a gifted kid, ...
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 ...
Not every relationship works out. This is true whether the relationship in question is a friendship, romantic relationship, or the ...
As children grow older, their behaviours change dramatically. While a hysterical tantrum over something minor is completely normal at two ...
The human brain processes all sensory information whether or not you are fully aware of it. Most children are able ...
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; ...
Highly intelligent children are delightful in a great many ways, but they can also be extremely challenging to raise. As a parent to a gifted child, one is on the receiving end of not only intense curiosity, emotions, and occasional defiance, but also the side-effects of an above-average child struggling to fit in at school and within society as a ...
Most human beings have a tendency to assess things from the outside in, using measurable external factors such as performance and achievement to ascertain how intelligent (or “gifted”) a person is. Indeed, the standardized psychological tests used to detect giftedness entirely overlook the behavioural and emotional aspects of giftedness. This sets up a damaging precedent, one that leads to gifted ...
