What did you do to make your child academically gifted??

[luckystarmaking]

My DD just started reception and I'm already concerned that she might be behind especially in maths.

She can recognise all letters, a few words and can write a couple of 3 letter words but when it comes to maths all she can do is count to 20-25 (sometimes she forgets the order from 12-20) and she can just do basic adding. She also uses her fingers to count and I read that that method doesn't help with mental arithmetic.

We've done a lot of print out activities in maths but it hasn't really gone in yet.

I really want her to do well in life as I had a crap upbringing and suffered from a poor education. I'm a cleaner, but hey ho.

If your child is gifted, what have you done right? Any tips?

She sounds fine to me. A gifted child is exactly that, gifted. You can help her with extra activities and such but I wouldn't be applying any pressure at her age.

Not a parent, but a teacher!
Firstly, counting on fingers is an important part of development that is vital to developing an understanding of number.
The very gifted children I have taught have one thing in common : reading.
Being read to/reading themselves as much as possible from a young age. The younger they learn to read, the easier everything else becomes. It develops comprehensions skills that help them with understanding concepts in other areas including maths (the concept of numbers comes up all the time in reading).
Also experiences. Going places and doing things - lots. Lots of engagement from adults and conversations about everything. Number is all around - talk about it and explore it every day. The rest will come and remember she's still very young.

Yoh can’t make a child gifted, any more than you can make a child have blue eyes or whatever, they either are or they are not

If she’s falling behind you can spend time going through what she’s learning and then the next stage on a daily basis.

Don’t push the overly formal approach when she is so young. Focus on a practical understanding of how numbers work. Sharing things out is division eg there are 4 apple slices and two people so Mum gets two and DD gets two. Cutting a cake or pizza is fractions.

DS1 didn’t get division until I got him to share coins into equal piles. Some children need a more visual or tactile representation of abstract concepts. He is now doing A level maths.

A lot of giftedness is genetic. All you can do is be involved and support her. Also, using fingers can help mental arithmetic. There is nothing wrong with using an aid that helps with focus. My DB uses his fingers to count in hexadecimel and he has a masters in mathematics.

I think some of it is genes and nothing to do with anything parents do with them, but there is no doubt that reading to children and hearing them read at home helps. So does any task such as cookery that involves use of numbers and volumes. I also think that good old-fashioned nature walks involving collecting leaves and acorns, etc, and sorting them into sizes and shapes is good.

My daughter loved things involving patterns: making pictures out of beads. Making little clay models, etc. This helps them recognise patterns too.

We didn't do any extra worksheets with them and encouraged them to play outdoors with their friends as much as they could (not so easy these days).

We used libraries at school and in town (again, not so easy) to encourage lots of books coming in and out of the house.

When they were about five or six they started playing musical instruments and although they weren't particularly gifted I think it helped with concentration, etc, and provided one of them in particular with an enjoyable group activitiy when she was older.

When they were older, into double figures, and had homework we always made this a priority and ensured they had quiet space to do it in. We tried to take them to museums or other historical places that linked into anything they showed an interest in but didn't spend endless weekends traipsing around stuff just for the sake of it.

The fact that you are interested in your child's development and want to help puts her at a huge advantage. I honestly think that being supportive and reasonably organised is the best thing you can do for children. And don't talk yourself down about your work. Half the businesses and homes in the country would grind to a halt without people like you.

Talk to them a lot about a wide variety of things. Read to them a lot. Play good music when they're around. Don't let them just sit and stare at a screen all day. No computer games when they're young. Lots of craft activities. When you read a book or watch a movie with them, talk about it afterwards. When they can write, encourage them to write a diary (especially in teenage years.)

You should have procreated with a genius of course

You can't make a child gifted. You can give them lots of advantages though. Talk to them lots, about wide-ranging and interesting things. Encourage wide interests. Take them to museums, out in nature. Read to them. Set an example by reading and taking an interest in things yourself. I believe that constantly engaging in proper, age-appropriate, intelligent conversation with your kids is one of the most important things you can do for them.

One of mine is very academically gifted and although we encouraged it (and still do) there’s not really anything we did to “make” her that way, she just it.
We have made sure she’s got the best opportunities available to us but that’s just enhanced what she’s already got naturally

Board games are great for maths. Snakes and ladders: ooh I hope I get a three but definitely not a five. Which ladder is the best. Also most kinds of physical games can involve number and shape. How far can you jump? Let's get the tape measure. Can you do three more kicks of the ball? How many did Gemma do? So how many more than her did you do?

Dividing up sweets evenly is always a winner. As is weighing and measuring for baking. In the shops doing more or less, how much money, can we afford it, is the multipack better value.

At 4 worksheets will not help much. Just talk about number in day to day life and

Either they are gifted or they aren’t.

DS is brainy (2 masters degrees in STEM subjects), he fortunately inherited his brain fro his dad 😁

He was reading independently before he went to school, and we encouraged his interest in science, but otherwise left him to it.

I really wouldn’t pit pressure on your 4 year old, just encourage reading, go to museums, galleries etc when you feel like it but otherwise hill.

A lot of parents think their children are gifted. Surely it's a rarity that's nature and nurture?

Both DSs are I just encouraged them.

I did teach them to read before they went to school but that was to give me some peace while they read their books. It's either there or it isn't, I think.

They have to have the right personality as well as the grey matter. Hot housing of the 70s was a dreadful thing.

*chill

Doh. Fat fingers. Posted too soon.

Just talk about number in day to day life and never do that thing of maths is sooo hard or play ong when adults say I can't do maths don't let it hang there as if it is true. You wouldn't say "I can't write".

I agree with the reading. It teaches spelling, grammar, using imagination.
But I don't think you can 'make' your child gifted. I think it's a natural ability which can't be forced. You have to be realistic sometimes otherwise you'll just keep feeling disappointed.
All you can do is encourage your children to do their best, without too much pressure. I've always reminded mine not to waste their time at school, it's precious learning time. A privilege.
Also remember children don't have to be gifted to be capable and successful. Just have a good attitude to learning, which it sounds you will pass on!

I don't think you can make a child "gifted" - that's something they either are or aren't - but of course we all have different abilities that we can make the best of. Its great that you want to help your little girl do as well as possible, but to be honest it doesn't sound like you have too much to worry about.
My children are young adults/late teens now so I can't remember exactly what they could do at that stage but I don't think it was dramatically different from what you're describing and they have all done pretty well at school.
There's a balance to find between encouraging young children to learn and putting them off. I think its really important that learning should be fun at a young age. So I always used to look for opportunities for "real life" learning, so it seemed more interesting. Like counting things out or helping weigh stuff when we were shopping, simple sums with money etc rather than work sheets. And reading. I don't think you can read too much! Reading to her is fine, it doesn't always have to be her reading to you, but anything that develops a love of reading is good. At this age books with no words are fine, just talking about the story is helpful. But fun is the main thing. A child who enjoys learning is always at an advantage - but don't put too much pressure on her, or yourself. Sounds like you are doing great to me. And there is nothing wrong with being a cleaner! This whole pandemic thing has shown just how important that kind of role is.
If you are concerned, talk to the teacher but I think she sounds like most other new starters in Reception so don't stress too much.

I agree with talking to your DC and listening to their answers. Take them to places of interest. It can be free stuff. I am in London so if we went to Trafalgar Square we might talk about Nelson.
Although my spectacular performance parenting at Horseguards Parade where I was droning on about the Household Cavalry was impressively derailed by a young DS2 demanding you know where the would poo and then delightedly pointing out the steaming pile he had spotted.

My DS could read from two and a half. Yes, he's officially gifted. What has this done for him? Nothing but make him lazy as everything is too easy. He didn't finish university and ended up in a low paid job making the tea and filing. Now he's had many promotions and manages a large number of people. Being gifted is meaningless when it comes to a future career. Being a slogger and hardworking is the important thing.

horse would poo

Your child seems to be doing great!!!! Wow! DD1 also just started reception and she can identify most letters and numbers and that's it! She's absolutely brilliant at puzzles though! Always has loved them. People tend to have a certain area/areas they are more inclined to. Mozart was an absolute genius! But I don't think you could expect him to be good at everything.

It's important that you don't get too ahead of school. Your DD can get easily bored with school if she knows everything already! Encourage other kinds of knowledge like art, music, nature.

Gave them by amazing genes, of course.

my amazing genes, which apparently are not amazing enough to avoid typos

You cannot make a child gifted - just encourage them.
My ds1 is amazingly gifted, as in at 12 he's achieved his GCSE's and attends lectures at Cambridge. He's also home educated/privately tutors as school is not appropriate. This is no boast it's a fact, my point being I did precisely nothing, in fact he was very ill as a baby/toddler so he was exposed to very little and we didn't do any of the usual sing/play activities.
It's simply who is he is.
I'd say just encourage and talk to your child, put them under no pressure. All children have their own unique abilities.