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?

Don’t think you can, they either are or aren’t. You can support and encourage to help them to achieve their personal best, but “gifted” is much more unusual than lots of parents seem to believe

I haven’t read the full thread but a teacher friend always read to our children with his finger following the words from a tiny age . We also seriously limited technology when they were very young (Very relaxed now but they still use it sensibly) and had weekly trips to the library and they both love books. I’m not sure you can make a child academically gifted but I think it’s so good for every young child to have an stimulating environment and give them a good start and sounds like you are doing a really great job OP .
I also used to put simple words on things when DC were very young like ‘chair’ and kept it all fun ! DD had a tough start in life and extra help in lessons etc and she’s doing so well and happy and now in secondary won the school science prize as so interested and focused . But I’d never push anything either, best it’s Just fun and positive

I want to stress what other posters are saying that giftedness is no substitute for hard work and resilience. I would probably be classed as gifted these days (joined Mensa as a teenager) and I have worked with many other very intelligent people in the City. The successful ones all work hard and handle stress well.
I have met very clever people who seem to think having a high IQ is enough and the world owes them - no it really really doesn’t- giftedness equals potential but you still have to work to realise it.

Your child seems perfectly fine, with your love, support and encouragement she will likely do very well in life? As an aside, do gifted children tend to 'do well' in life. Ime children who are reasonably smart but are eager to learn to willing to work hard are the ones who do best at school, uni and later on in their chosen career.

You can't make a child academically gifted if they're not, OP. You can help nurture their intelligence to the max though and encourage hard work (which helps in getting great grades).

I have done nothing beyond the basics of reading to your child and talking to them etc!

My son is just naturally gifted. He is 12 now and very intelligent. He can struggle with emotional regulation though so it’s not always a picnic.

IME the best things you can do with your preschool / young primary child are:

Read. Read and read again. Read to them at least once a day, get them to read to you daily when they can. Have books everywhere in your home (both stories and age-appropriate non-fiction titles)

Maths - use it at any opportunity. Count out grapes / sweeties / biscuits at meal times. When they're old enough, cut pizza / cake to learn about fractions. Ask them to count buses / trucks when you're in the car. Count lampposts on a walk etc.

You don't need to spend money on expensive resources.

My youngest sibling is gifted (IQ of 165 - had it tested through MENSA) and they weren't brought up any different to the rest of us (we always had access to lots of books though, and all read grown-up literature way before we should have been!). Clearly born that way. It can be a double-edged sword though - they've had mental health problems all through adulthood.

There is a child in my daughters yr 6 class who is incredibly intelligent. However, in y2 I was at parents evening and her mum and dad made her sit and redo every piece of work she had not done correctly that entire school year right there in the school corridor. It was very awkward to watch.
My other dd has a girl in her class who is very gifted at everything it seems. Her parents dote on her but you can see she is just naturally inquisitive and sharp.

And remember that one person's gifted is another person's intelligent/bright. It kind of depends what circles you move in. Which is why the G&T programmes at primary schools (do they even still do that) aren't entirely helpful.

DS was at a super-selective grammar with a G&T programme but some of the boys he was at school with really were off the scale intelligent and undoubtedly will do amazing things in life.

Play, books, music, time with you x

DH always used to count the stairs with all our DC when he carried them up and down. I think he counted everything! They are all good at maths, probably not just because of that but it was a start.

We had great nieces and nephews round the other day and I heard him at it again on the stairs bless him.

At 3 you would have put DS1 at the bottom of the class. Nobody would have thought him gifted. I just plodded along with all the things you are supposed to do. Except when he completely failed to grasp the number 4, I sat him in front of numberjacks for a few days and that did the trick.

At 11 he is top in his class and extremely gifted at maths as is his brother, I couldn't help him now if I wanted to. They take after their dad, who is exceptionally clever.

While I like to think I helped by doing all the things you are supposed to, academically my boys are my husbands children, even down to their style of learning. I don't think that could have been taught. My boys have very different personalities, one very shy and one very outgoing, they have different hobbies but achieve similar results at school.