help needed with G+T 3 yearold

[mummydoc]

I rarely post on this topic as it seems to cause so much derision, but my nearly 3 year old dd ( who is G+T) is driving me bonkers, I struggle to answer her incessant questions , particularly as I have never wanted to fob my children off with fantasy answers, e.g. why do flowers bloom mummy..( recent question) easy answer would have been "the fairies make it happen" , does anyone know of a children's encyclopedia type book I could use which would help me with sensible but child friendly answers. I am reasonably intelligent ( as is DH) but why do flowers bloom and how does the sky stay up have got me stumped as to how to explain them.

I think the books are good when children can read them, but Google is still better - because no book can really cover half of what children ask.

what's G&T?

gifted and talented

I bought a DK children's encyclopaedia from a Red Cross charity shop for £2.50. I use it all the time for myself!

ah

Google is only any good if you happen to have the computer on 24/7. Plus there is always power cuts (several a month here) and internet going down problems which make it unusable. At least a book is there once you have it, its not going to run out of batteries or decide its having a connection error. Oxfam book shops are great for encyclopaedias.

You don't have to answer everything.

When she next asks, 'Why does the sky stay up?', answer her with, 'Well, what do you think?'. Let her make up her own ideas and hypotheseses.

Also, remember, not everything you read on the internet is correct. At least encyclopaedias provide cross-references and have been through an editorial process. I would still use google though for those hard to find answers.

I has a big book of 1000 'facts' when I was 8- I LOVED that book- devoured it- unfortunately about half the facts were wrong, as I slowly discovered....

I had whole books called "Why?", "What?" etc devoted to inane questions. I still love that stuff.

Have read this thread with interest and am thinking OMG my DS must be abnormal then? He sometimes does ask awkward questions but never anything along the lines of the OP's child - he has too much else to do.

Give the OP a break here - some of you sound like your children are equally G+T. It is interesting that some posters felt the need to go on about how intellectual their own children are at 3 or 4 or 5 and seem intent on topping the questions of the OP's child while rubbishing the OP. If you're pissed off that your own child hasn't been recognised (green eyed moster in all of us) then get your child tested, get the label and get over it.

The OP asked a question - some of you have just attacked her without even answering it. It's not a debate about the G+T system - it was a question about a bloody encyclopaedia FFS. Get a grip people please

DW used to get lots of books like this www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Sky-Blue-Susan-Varley/dp/184270589X. I seem to remember a whole series of I wonder why....

Dorling Kindersley publish lots of books that are very helpful when answering children's questions. Look up their catalogue on their website. Lots of their books are available in public libraries.

ok, you have here a normal kid asking normal questions. This is good as there are lots of us in the same boat. My just 2 yo comes out with some of these, tbh. The questions ARE incessant-I have 2 of them doing it! Its fabulous and bloody tiring.

What I am working towards doing with my older child, who is nearly 4 , is showing him how we find out the answers to these questions.

Now obviously there are different ways of doing this. You can show her how to google to an extent-ok prob not the reading, but she can look out for pictures. You can show her how to look up info in books, in your home or in the library. If they are sciencey questions then consider getting her to doing easy experiments, gardening, or just playing in water etc and talking to her about the effects.

Also I'd say that why do flowers bloom and why does the sky stay up are a. typical toddler questions and b. not very specific. Work with her to find out exactly what she wants to know and explain to her why its helpful for you to know this. Is she saying "what is the point of flowers?" or "how do flowers form"? Or does she just want a general discussion about flowers, as in, look mummy I've seen a pretty flower.

If you are interested in skill building, and want her to be bright and sucessful in the future, then the ability to work out exactly what her question IS and be as independent as possible in finding the answer, will be much more useful than any specific knowlege.

That's a good post. I've taught lots of very bright students at A level (wannabe doctoors) who had absolutely no idea how to use an index, or a reference book, or how to go about finding out the answer to anything (other than by saying 'what's the answer). They also really struggled with questions where there was no absolute answer. Teaching those skills is really important I think. It's about having an ability to think independetly I guess.....

If people are so against the G&T concept - don't bother reading the G&T board....and if you really must read it, don't then start having a go at people who ask perfectly decent questions.

Yep I fear there is a lot of jealousy out there fuelling this kind of thing.

Your dd sounds very bright. I second what others have said about IQ tests on toddlers being very unreliable and not getting too hung up on the figure itself - it might be higher than that or lower. She sounds brighter than 141 tbh - but that depends on whether she is just 3 or nearly 4 - and I am no expert!

boo64 - thakyou for your very nice post , i rarely post or comment on these boards for fear of the derisive comments , why people read them just to sneer i don't know, my dd is not 3 until october and though i rarely give much thought to her alleged IQ i do know she is differnt to alot of her peers and to be frank i really wish she wasn't and i hope she levels out as i personnaly don't think being so bright is a gift at all more of a curse, unless of course she finds a cure for cancer and makes loads of dosh to keep her poor old mothe rin the style to which she would like to be accostomed

That would be nice!

I agree - I am getting quite a bee in my bonnet about the sour grapes attitude of some people on these boards. Yes if someone had said 'I really want to push my dd into becoming a nuclear physicist, she seems really bright' I'd be bothered by it too, but if you have a very intelligent child on your hands, what's wrong with asking other people's advice on how to make them HAPPY!? Because in my opinion most sensible parents with so-called gifted kids are just doing that - trying to keep their child interested and involved in the things around them which can be quite a challenge if they aren't into the usual stuff for their age group.

Right, rant over.

some good ideas here, here and here. I got the Kingfisher set for my 4 yr old dd when she was in Reception and she loves it.

FWIW I would watch out with ORT books and do some phonic work until she is secure in phonics; Jolly Phonics is great, got my two reading when dd was 4 and ds just 3. I found the time they started 'reading to learn' the best time of all now they can look up thier own answers

If you want her to be rich suggest you steer her away from finding a cure for cancer academic jobs not well paid.