Do gifted kids grow up to be gifted adults?

[Mollydoggerson]

I wonder?

I see alot of references to gifted kids and I wonder what really makes a gifted kid. I thought kids had developmental spurts, so that they might learn alot and engage the brain alot and be developmentally ahead at certain times in the childhood, however over time their focus might change to something else and alot of them even out to be intelligent normal people and not necessariy remain in the gifted category all their life.

I wonder how many kids are classed as gifted when in fact they are of normal intelligience but are also studious and engaged. I think (in Ireland anyway), a whole business has built up around the labelling of 'gifted' children.

So my query is if a child is classed as gifted on average do they develop into gifted adults?

Sorry to (not even stealth) boast but the OP does call for it.

I was bright at school - won a scholarship to a fee-paying school, got 10 As at GCSE (no A* back then) and 4 As at A level. I went on to get a degree from Cambridge and to do well in my career (qualified as an actuary without failing any exams, promoted quickly in my firm).

Now I'm a SAHM .

I was just thinking the same thing antarctic. How many of us have the potential, the ambition, and maybe even some drive, and then having children narrows the professional options right back down again? (by choice or not)

Oh well, there's always mn

There is a recent study that shows that intellectual curiosity is at least as important as IQ for academic success.

The g&t thing facinates me, probably because I didn't do well at school, I was never obviously academic. I am dyslexic and so that factored in, but most of my high IQ friends, both from childhood and adulthood are just 'normal' adults. Yet I still read this board and want for my (still very young but not genius level performance) children to do well in school.

I can't help thinking that there is an unhealthy valorisation of school performance (which I totally fall into).

It is important to make sure that children aren't bored in school, and that ability is catored for, but I do sometimes wonder if we misunderstand what intelligence is and consequently what to do with 'gifted' children, and certainly how to (or not) label gifted children.

OK, I've now read the rest of the thread and have to admit that I'm not as clever as my post implies I think I am! I'm good at exams and good at applying knowledge (as well as learning it), but in Portofino's words, having to get out there and FIND the knowledge myself would be a different matter entirely.

I'm very happy with my life though. Agree with some of you that perhaps being a real genius isn't always a comfortable thing.

EyeOfNewtAndToeOfFrog, in answer to your question on how to motivate your DCs to be driven and hardworking as well as intelligent, the way my parents did it was to prioritise the importance of schoolwork over everything else. So for example, I could always get out of doing the washing up if I said I had too much homework. Sorry if that's not the answer that you as a parent was hoping to hear!!

Not that it is that important, but I didn't do well in school, made it to a rubbish college of higher education, then onto a not so great university for a postgraduate award, then onto a good university for a PhD. I'm not a Lecturer/Researcher.

*were hoping

Sorry! I'm NOW a lecturer/researcher. Not NOT! (why doesn't netmums let me edit my posts!!!!!)

Actually maybe it is was hoping. Confused now!

Just found this thread and want to sign up as a member of the Blew It club. Actually I worked for a company that was the spiritual home of such people (won't out myself or it). It was stuffed to the gills with over-qualified under-achievers.

My concern is that I think I am too much on my dcs' backs now - well, ds's at least. He is such a chip off the old block that I can see him repeating all my mistakes. But you can lead a horse to water...

Dyslexic with stupidly high IQ, so to make the most of this I had to slog it out. Consequently there is no such word as "can't" in my book this is great in having a achieved several degrees and running two successful businesses, but really bad in that I am very self critical always striving to work hard, do better etc. I happily work stupid hours and often make the wrong decision (see really self critical) in the work life balance. I am currently trying really hard to shut the work side of sometimes and say no to give more time to my DD.
What I have managed to achieve is passing my work ethic on to DD she has just started getting effort cards (1 is for consistently exceptional effort) last term she got 2 1s and today it arrived and she has 4 1s. I just to help her get the balance right.

Interesting topic. I was branded as "gifted" age 4, and I dropped out at 13.

One of the funniest things was being told all the time that effort was more important than results, presumably to stop me from coasting. So I often worked very hard and then didn't bother actually delivering on time or in the right format.

However, in spite of getting mediocre o and a levels, I ended up with an MSc and the freedom to be a SAHM and afford to take my daughter to loads of exciting things. Bringing up my daughter is definitely the most exciting and wonderful job in the world, and I've had some pretty exciting jobs.

All this "gifted but lazy" commentary is the main reason parents with children with above average IQs sometimes need to fight on behalf of their children.

Kids need to learn how to come up against challenges, work hard, and overcome them. If all the work is easy the children won't learn the rewards of persistance or how to cope in the face of failure. I've got a kid like this. So much comes easily to him that he hates to do things that are hard. We praise effort and keep trying to expose him to things that don't play to his strengths.

But, of course, it doesn't really matter in the end. I want my kids to be happy adults, not necessarily adults who are wildly successful in their chosen career. If my clever but lazy boy is a happy adult, I'll consider myself a successful mother.

I don't completely agree with that, my parents were very into challenging me because I was so "bright", so as a result they'ld taught me to read a write well before my peers, my mum was a university lecturer and I used to sit at home as a kid and do the exams she wrote for her students for fun (and do better than a lot of her students), I went to music lessons and language camps etc etc

That ADDED to the lazy problem because I got very used to being ahead of my peers, whatever they were doing I "knew it all" already, made me a smart arse and lazy. I was not good at plodding through a curriculum with my class mates. I was used to being the best, being singled out to sit at the top maths table to get extra work - I didn't really EARN it like some of the others who sat there, it was just that I'ld been exposed to it earlier because I was "bright", I hadn't really worked for it, and would be very disgruntled if I ever got domoted for a week for not bothering.

I am very aware of this with my 3YO DS, On the one hand I want to crack on with Jolly phonics and basic maths etc because he seems to love it and laps it up, but on the other hand I think there is something to be said for him going through it and it being new to him when his peers in school are doing it IYKWIM