to loathe the smuggery that goes with any G&T post

[FunnysInTheGarden]

' oh my dc is miles and miles ahead of her peers, but I really want her to keep it real and mix with the thick folk just so that she understands that we are all different. Obv she'll move to private for her GCSE's'

FFS, when I was young there was no G&T and we all got on with it. I would have been a G&T type, but so glad there wasn't the distinction then. Tis shite

First do not flame

Second I could not give a flying duck what your child can do

I haven't seen many posts like that. Far more posts in the g & t section seem to me to be about parents who are worrying because their children's giftedness is combined with social difficulties. Which seem quite a reasonable concern to me.

And surely there were always children who simply weren't able to get on with it?

Oh dear. I so thought that G and T meant gin and tonic. Oh well.

That sounds like it's nothing to do with the G&T register

But everything to do with the twattish parent.

Basically all it means is that your child is in the top 10% in their year group

It's also nothing like it used to be when it was dreamt up because there is no longer the funding available.

Now it's left down to schools to come up with the 10% and simply give them extra work/encouragement...and schools should be encouraging and stretching all their pupils anyway.

My DS is on it for a few different subjects and apart from music it's made little to no difference at all to him.

yep. i'm dead smug about dd2, you're right. what with her cerebral palsy and her walking and talking like a drunk and having to put up with being head patted and blessed all the time. and all the physio, and ot, and slt and her crying every day because she's different. smug as fuck.

if i could find/ afford a private school that would take her i'd be off to private now, let alone waiting for gcses. unfortunately, however bright a kid is, if she drools and falls over, they don't want her.

what is it with mn and g&t? it's a school label. they just use it now instead of 'top of the class' which it was called in your day. bright kids are bright kids. they have always existed. i'm actually in favour of all children reaching their potential, which doesn't seem to be to be too much to hope for.

so shoot me.

never seen a g and t post like that tbh.

I find the whole concept of G & T a bit sad precisely for the same reason given by Worra- schools should be stretching and encouraging all pupils anyway. And YANBU that parents seem to treat it as some kind of virtue rather than mostly being an accident of birth and heredity (rather like looks). And having seen many a "G & T" lead a very sad and lonely life, having been fed unrealistic expectations about their actual real world abilities since birth, I have come to the conclusion that all I want for my Dc is to be happy and fun and sharp enough to earn a living.

Thing is, all the G&T kids in my DS's schools are simply taught in a different class and given more challenging work...that is all.

I'm 42 and when I was a kid, it was known as a 'different set'

That's all the G&T is now too

When Tony Blair's Government brought it in originally, it was totally different because the funding was there and the kids would get to go to different places/clubs/colleges etc.

Now it's just a 'top group'

I agree. I saw a thread started tonight on there that made me think some of these people have personality issues.

I didn't even know MN had a G&T forum!

There was still a version of G & T when I was at school, with the ark 35 years ago.

Primary/juniors children who were above average were put in the years above, and then had to be held back a year before they could go to high school.

At high school we had top, middle and bottom sets.

I didn't know that Worra, so G & T is really just what used to be called the top set? Nowt very special about that.

I think it's quite funny that you're complaining about smuggery but has slippEd in that you would have G&T!!

moonface I also thought gin and tonic. Mmm, gin...

Well MixedBerries it kind of is that way yes.

The Gifted part only refers to lessons like English, Math, Science etc

And the Talented part music, drama, PE etc

The Talented part in my son's case (violin) is the only thing he gets 'outside' help with and is sent to learn at an adult college every monday. He also gets to play with adult Orchestras.

But the Gifted part just sees him in a different classroom/set that's all.

I don't think the g & t forum is really much frequented by parents whose children simply happen to be in the top 10%. (That kind of parent will come on once but probably not hang around.)

More by parents whose children are actually rather unusual and who worry about them being different and not having their needs met. (And sad people like me who will go on any section of MN rather than having to get offline and do some work.)

Ahh I see. Like I said, I had no idea it existed

I've never seen the G & T section on MN and don't think I'll seek it out either. I have a feeling it would make me feel a bit sad and a bit angry. Neither of which I need right now!

yy. agree wholeheartedly.

which means it pisses me off even more when folk drop by, announce to the world we are all smug twats and our kids will drop out at 14 (with the necessity to mention how clever they themsleves are, natch), and then start an aibu to get a bunfight going. we have already been warned by ds1's teacher that he might be in danger of dropping out later on (he's 9 btw) but largely because of his adhd and social difficulties. and then she burst into tears.

way to go, funny.

I doubt that the OP is talking about your situation, outofbodyexperience. It seems to be referring to smug parents, that's all. You don't sound smug to me.

aye, but we all get lumped in together, bof. 'those g&t parents' 'any g&t post'.

you'd think the whole board was filled with 'well, tarquin passed his a level today before we went to mums and tots'. and it just isn't. i know it's mn tradition to poke the yummies a bit, but it gets boring.

yep, you can find some smug posts on g&t. and everywhere else on mn. but the focus on 'g&t is dead smug and twatty' means perfectly ordinary parents who are worried about their dcs for whatever reason avoid the g&t boards because of a misconception (or because someone will include them in the 'smug twats' roundup). so they might miss out on getting advice from people in similar positions. god knows half of this stuff you aren't allowed to discuss in the playground without risking being ostracised, it just smarts a little that apparently we aren't allowed to discuss bright kids at all, even on mn.

all kids have the right to reach their potential. all of them. anywhere that supports parents finding the way to help their kids of all shapes and sizes and abilities should be encouraged, not demeaned.

i find loads of threads on mn smug . but i don't attribute them to the board they are posted on, just the poster.

I am a bit of an outsider on the g & t as my dd doesn't have the same problems as many and ds is not g & t, but I definitely think outofbody gives an idea of what it is actually like: it is a bit like the SN section, somewhere where parents can meet and talk about the kind of thing you can't really talk about to people not in that situation because they wouldn't understand.

My ds is in the lower sets and I don't find reading the g & t posts makes me angry. Sad, yes, in a mildly sympathetic sense, like reading about some other difficulty that my dcs don't happen to have.

You give your children Gin and Tonic?

Link 5 threads OP, pointing out the particular posts where you claimed this has happened, should be easy if what you say is true.

I think there is quite often a presumption of smuggery where it doesn't exist.

And I imagine it is hard for people whose children are G&T to find others to discuss ishoos with