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Original poster

Help!!! Anyone else out there with VERY bright children????

100 replies

Bafreem · 23/02/2006 16:57

Hi
I have a 4 yr old (D.O.B.14.11.02) that can read,write (basically), swim without assistance,learning French (rapidly), ride ponies, beat me at chess and asks questions like "what makes the street lights turn on and off?" "If space goes on forever, what is beyond that?" "what is soil made of, because plants can grow in it and we can't ?"
My 2 yr old can count to 15 and knows all the alphabet/colours/animals etc. can jump and hop on either leg. (D.O.B.28.1.04)
I also have another....Crawling at six months and already using 'sign' to say hungrey/thirsty/attention required...

*hhelllpp!!! - anyone out there with the same???
Help required regarding state schooling, keeping them occupied and particulary, integration with other children.
cheers
Bafreem ( nickname is what my daughter called me before she could prenounce catherine or mummy!):

OP posts:
rummum · 23/02/2006 17:40

children develop at different rates in different areas..
do your children mix well with other children?? is that why you mention integration with other children??
what does her pre-school or nursery teachers thing will help....

cod · 23/02/2006 17:43

Message withdrawn

cod · 23/02/2006 17:44

Message withdrawn

hunkermunker · 23/02/2006 18:00

bet you held your knife like a pencil tho cod

clerkKent · 23/02/2006 18:01

If there were a G&T topic, would it be possible to discuss something like this without the snide comments?

Perhaps there was a typo in the DOB (eg 14.1.02).

You could try going to every club there is (not forgetting physical things as well as mental), and see what they like best. In particular the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) run Explorers Clus for 4-11 year olds.

Blandmum · 23/02/2006 18:02

cos you must have been posh to be able to afford steak and chips to feed to such a young child

expatinscotland · 23/02/2006 18:02

back in cod's babyhood, tho, you could probably get a portion of chips from a chip shop for about 30p.

Blandmum · 23/02/2006 18:05

naw, she is old enough for old money I bet
One shilling and Sixpence would have done her

(bloody know I'm old enough to remember old money)

FrannyandZooey · 23/02/2006 18:06

I was cooking steak and chips age 9 months.

Bafreem, lovely that your children are so bright and that you want to find the best way to help them. I think there is a sort of advisory group for parents of gifted children, maybe they could help? I know there is an online test somewhere to test for 'giftedness' as well (I know you didn't say they were gifted, but that's the sort of lines you are thinking along, isn't it?)

jabberwocky · 23/02/2006 18:08

Bafreem, so sorry that your thread has taken this turn. It is hard to get a straight answer for these types of questions but I know that you are in a quandry. Dh and I argue fairly often over what to do with ds in his schooling. At 2.6 he is on a 4 year old level in most things and I do worry about it. Do I just continue on as if he's the same as all other 2 year olds? Do I try to do extra things at the 4 year old level? Is he going to have problems integrating with children his own age? (It does seem a possibility at this point, but hard to tell at this age)
I just don't know. So, I guess I haven't really answered your question. However, what I have been doing is trying to do extra things with him to keep him challenged, while at the same time letting him continue on with age-appropriate activities and utilizing whatever opportunities we have for him to interact with other children his age.

HTH

Angeliz · 23/02/2006 18:10

Bafreem probably won't be returning now i'm guessing.

Another lovely helpful thread. Sigh!

tortoiseshell · 23/02/2006 18:35

I used to babysit some children who really were truly gifted/bright/whatever you want to call it - it was obvious that they were super intelligent as soon as you started talking to them - not because of any reading/specific skills, but the sorts of questions they asked, concepts they had grasped, their own perception of the world. They were never pushed, just given encouragement at home (by which I mean, parents were interested in what they had to say), no special program at school. One has gone to Oxford, the other to Cambridge. And more importantly they are very very well balanced young adults, who just happen to be amazingly intelligent - I salute their parents!

Celia2 · 23/02/2006 18:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

jabberwocky · 23/02/2006 18:54

tortoiseshell and celia2, I have started another thread for Bafreem since she will probably not be returning to this one.

singersgirl · 23/02/2006 19:00

My kids aren't amazingly bright or anything, but I think this thread illustrates how useful a 'gifted and talented' type section would be. It's difficult in real life to ask people's opinions about this sort of stuff.

mousiemousie · 23/02/2006 19:06

TROLL

no previous posts

Nightynight · 23/02/2006 19:45

bafreem
check this thread out...
new thread for you!

Nightynight · 23/02/2006 19:47

oh sorry jabberwocky, didnt see that you had put a link already.
am interested in this, because I think bright children usually dont get the support they need in mainstream schools.

jabberwocky · 23/02/2006 23:00

I agree, and here in the US with the No Child Left Behind act the push is on only to bring up children who are behind, but does nothing for children who need more of a challenge.

Socci · 23/02/2006 23:16

Message withdrawn

Flossam · 23/02/2006 23:23

My friends DS who is getting on for 16 months is unusually bright IMO. She took a list of 45 words to the HV in december (when he was 13 months) of all the words he knew and understood. I was a bit sceptical, but he can spot a bus from long distances, the same with fruit on market stalls. He can name a whol basket of fruit and veg and is started to learn lots of different animals names. All at the same time as being able to tell his mother when he is pooing (potty training then?), asks for milk, bed. On the negative side he knows how to behave in such a way that he will get a reaction. She is going to have her hands full.

Callmemadam · 24/02/2006 00:03

Martianbishop, I really appreciated what you had to say: my ds2 is a gifted child, by which I mean that he makes extraordinary connections in order to understand advanced concepts, not just that he is academically advanced and finds learning easy. All the stuff here as a small child was stuff he did, and by the time he was in year2 he was assessed as having a reading age of 12+. However, he has also had episodes of very serious bullying as he is not in his correct academic year, and struggles to build empathetic relationships with his peers because he expects to be rejected as weird or different. I don't worry too much about him being successful in life: I'm too busy trying to make sure that he is stable, confident and secure. IME the real deal is as much a curse as a blessing.

Piffle · 24/02/2006 14:13

Agree madam, we refused to put ds up a year because he lacked the social maturity, he has had episodes of severe bullying though.
It is a blessing and a curse
For one thing they never shut up and question everything.
DS is 12 now and at the mo his favourite hobby is debunking punch lines of famous jokes
Not very charming habit, we expect to see him with 2 black eyes any day soon.
I agree with whats been said about focussing breadth of learning as opposed to forging ahead with new concepts.
This can keep kids within their age group but still extend them.
I really appreciate discussions on Gifted kids as people who react negatively are part and parcel of what you face in real life too, so it all engances your skills and also gives you an insight about not asking for advice from people who would perceive you as bragging.
Interesting debate, I got pilloried on another thread this week, but it all ended well, which was really nice.

jabberwocky · 24/02/2006 15:05

Yes, dh doesn't appreciate the possibility of bullying but I know all too well the isolation that can come from being perceived as "different". I got ds a foam floor puzzle of the US for Christmas. Just thought it looked fun, really. Within a week he knew all the Southern states and those west of the Mississippi by sight and where to put them. He did it in front of some friends and we got really strange looks, like we had been pushing him with flash cards or something.We never do things like that.

It's exhilerating and frightening at the same time.

geekgrrl · 24/02/2006 16:47

crikey, now you're apparently a troll if you post about your child being bright.