To get slightly fed up with post's about 'gifted and talented' children

[MrsMertle]

because I think some of them are just an excuse for parents to show off, when what they really want to say is "look at my DC, they are so much cleverer than yours!!"

[TheProvincialLady]

Block the topic then.

[AnnElk]

You don't have to read them.

Sheesh.

YABU

[TheArmadillo]

Some people want them, some hate them. If you hate them then don't look at them - block the topic.

[lilacclaire]

Well my ds thats 3.5 can do one armed press ups, say the alphabet backwards and tap dance
Sorry meant to say, he can still drool down his chin like a baby, chuck his dinner on the floor and still can't talk clearly

[Habbibu]

Yes, block the topic. It's not like MN is short of threads.

[PrettyCandles]

Then don't look.

[AnnElk]

Acksherly that reminds me - DS1 going to a PEACH workshop tomorrow studying tesellations. Just thought I would share.

[cory]

That's why they're all hidden away in a special section. Of course, we need to be vigilant in case they ever try to break out!!!

[CountessDracula]

DON'T READ THEM THEN!!!

[AMumInScotland]

YABU - there is a whole separate topic for them so that people can post there rather than on other topics, and you can hide the topic so you don't have to look.

Believe it or not, parents come on here to get advice from people in a similar situation to them - why should that not include those who may (or may not) have a particular ability level.

[maybeishouldntjudge]

gifted and talented is a load of bollocks imo.

Most children on the g&t register are just very bright, but schools have targets, you know.

[AnnElk]

Thanks for sharing that dearie

[CountessDracula]

oh AnnElk
I love your name

[AnnElk]

[hecate]

children who are truly gifted need help and support and so do the parents. All the support is there for children (like mine) who have sn (autism), but g&t is a sn too. g&t kids struggle. My sister has just started posting on here, and although she'd never tell you herself her daughter is g&t - genuinely! and it is HARD! She has trouble socially, she struggles at school because her needs are not being met and nobody cares. She is very bright, but that's not the problem, there are other things - in many ways she seems rather aspergers like. Sensory issues, social issues, anxieties etc etc. My sister finds it really hard sometimes and the school is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. There should be more understanding and help, but instead it is dismissed as parental boasting, which it is NOT.

[Marne]

I don't reed them because i know dd is the best at evrything

[ImnotMamaGbutsheLovesMe]

My child is on the G&T register for literacy and when I posted about it it was because I was proud and wanted to share some good news for a change. No way was I saying she was cleverer than anyone else.

hecate the same child is very stubborn, is that her age or the G&T?

[hecate]

Which child? My niece? She is certainly VERY stubborn Talk to my sister about it - she has some bloody battles! She is shivermetimbers.

[Reallytired]

What do you bet that most children who are supposely gifted and talented are precious first borns, who have been hideously hot housed.

I think you have to be philosophical. Life is what you make of it. People like Einstein were not gifted and talented as toddlers or even at primary school.

"Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration"

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/146600.html

I don't think the gifted and talented initative is doing most children any favours. Real giftedness or exceptional is very rare.

There is no point in being jelous as truely gifted children have huge problems, and the 10% of kids who are merely bright would be better off without the label. It can encourage bright chidren to be lazy if they are flattered too much.

Children who are truely talented or gifted often appear in surprising places. For example I know a severely autisic lad who is really talented at playing the piano. However he is at special school has he lacks so many other basic life skills.

Yet he would probably never be considered for the gifted and talented list in a mainstream school as he does not tick the conventional boxes.

[AnnElk]

'What do you bet that most children who are supposely gifted and talented are precious first borns, who have been hideously hot housed.'

Words fail me

[hecate]

"There is no point in being jelous as truely gifted children have huge problems"

That is SO true. It is a horrible thing to be, in many ways.

[ilovemyghds]

Maybe the parents post on here as they don't want to ask in real life for fear of being seen as show offs.

My DCs are not G&T as far as I know though - just think that if they turned out to be in any way I would rather ask on here than talk about it to my friends. At the moment they seem v average - unless DSs abilities for doing difficult jigsaws count as a gift

[MrsMertle]

I am a primary school teacher and I see children who are labled as G+T and it really doesn't do them any favours.

They seem to be singled out from their friends which at such a young age children do not want.

Hecate, I do understnad how hard it must be for your sister. I know that these are children who are genuinely G+T and that they do indeed need extra support.

Unfortunately the vast majorit of kids labled as G+T are actually just kids who achieve slighty above average but are picked as G+T because schools are encouraged to identify a certain number of G+T kids each year.

These kids then have enormous expectations placed on them, I have seen so called G+T kids in tears in class because they suddenly have all this extra pressure on them and quite frankly it is unrealisitic. Who wants that for their child? They are children FGS, why can't we just let them be kids, they have their whole lives to worry about stuff like this.

[Minniethemoocher]

DD has learning difficulties, so I never read threads about gifted and talented children - I hope that doesn't make me sound bitter and twisted, which I am not, but it is bad enough having to face gloating Mums at the school gates everyday....when DD is struggling with the basics.

[MrsSnape]

I remember reading one once where a woman was going on about her 3 year old DS and how he loved bird spotting so she'd sat him at the PC and HE was typing all these different species of bird into images.google etc.

I do think some are far fetched and its a bit when you read them...

(e.g. "DD (2) has finished all the harry potter books and finds them a bit too easy, can anyone recommend anything a bit more advanced?" lol )