___WEDNESDAY___CH 4___UPDATE___"CHILD GENIUS"___UPDATE___CH 4___

[RTKangaMummy]

WEDNESDAY

CHANNEL 4

AN UPDATE ON THE CHILDREN FROM LAST YEAR

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Documentary
Child Genius Wednesday 16 April
9:00pm - 10:00pm
Channel 4
1/2
The subtitle of this series about megabrained children is "young and gifted", but by the end you half-wonder if it should be "young and cursed". We're catching up with kids we met in the last series - chess champ Peter (11), who wears a "genius in training" T-shirt, Adam (eight), who dissects rats in the kitchen, and Mikhail (five), who as Britain's youngest Mensa member has appeared on Oprah and Countdown. We also meet Georgia, who toppled Mikhail as Britain's youngest Mensa member. At two, she was measured with an IQ of 152 - impressive given that, being a toddler, she fell asleep halfway through the test. Her mother notes that "a lot of the pictures we take of Georgia have this white light around her . . ." That's the thing: inevitably, parents become caught up in making their gifted children into mini-celebrities, especially when TV crews get involved. It makes for fascinating TV; whether it's great for the pressure-cooker kids is another matter.

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Celia that is really interesting cos Kangaboy is a surviving identical twin they were born @ 27 weeks

I wonder too about his extreme prematurity and having such a high IQ

cos of all the extra stimulation that he had in NNU ITU when he should have been still cosy inside me with limited stimuli

How prem were yours?

Is that what your study was about?

yes celia. Ds is totally recovered and due to his incredible strength of personality I think. He has some friends. No one really close which saddens me. But within the Art group he is finding people with things in common. He does not suffer fools which he will have to overcome.
to be honest his bullying was sometimes controlled by him. He can be a very argumentative and patience testing lad. He could have many times kept schtum and saved himself some grief. But even given that the bullying was beyond the pale even if you excuse for provocation.
the grammar he is at is zero tolerance for bullying though.
he is incredibly sensitive and reactive though. Words wound him most.

yes celia. Ds is totally recovered and due to his incredible strength of personality I think. He has some friends. No one really close which saddens me. But within the Art group he is finding people with things in common. He does not suffer fools which he will have to overcome.
to be honest his bullying was sometimes controlled by him. He can be a very argumentative and patience testing lad. He could have many times kept schtum and saved himself some grief. But even given that the bullying was beyond the pale even if you excuse for provocation.
the grammar he is at is zero tolerance for bullying though.
he is incredibly sensitive and reactive though. Words wound him most.

At risk of being repetative, my ds used to be annoying, insensitive, obnoxious... Another mumsnetter recommended a book (the Unwritten Rules of Friendship). It really helped.

I feel I am treading on eggshells here - but Kerrymum - it does seem a bit as if you take any post that doesn't agree with you as ridicule and censure. I am not attacking all ggifted children if I say that Aimee and Dante needed lessons in manners and civilized behaviour - I am saying that these two particular children came across as bratty - and their parents came across as pretty ineffectual.

For what it's worth - and perhaps to lay my licence to post on the G and T threads on the table, I have a son on the g and t register at his school, but I consider him bright rather than gifted.

And I think it would be very sad if people with particular experiences took them away to a special exclusive group - how could the rest of us try to walk in your moccasins then? And isn't that what mumsnet should be about?

"Any time I've seen a poster asking for help or advice it is generally received in the vein of "what makes you think your kid is so special?" People who don't even have gifted kids feel an obligation to "put people in their place" and\or openly ridicule them. "

Spot on, KM. I have so many questions that I need and want to ask about DD. I do need a brush off with 'just let her be a child' or 'stop hothousing her' or whatever people want to write/think. I need advice on schooling for her without the 'bright kids don't need extra help, chuck them a book' or 'just let her play, plenty of time for academics later'. Whilst I agree in part to some, there are limits. What do you do with a child that 'needs' academic challenges in the same way a different child may need outdoor play.

I hate being thought of as pushy! People don't realise that these children need support. It is a balance though, academic and fun. I really do think that.

Janelumley: I know what you mean about leaving one or the other out sometimes, I have 4 children all close in age. My children consider themselves lucky if I call them by the right name.

thanks for answering our questions.

I hate being thought of as pushy too. DD has the most well rounded life out of all the kids we know. I believe in giving her as many experiences as possible and giving her a fun 'toddler' life. Thankfully she loves to play and will do so all day...just the day needs to be capped with something academic like maths! If we skip the academic stage in the evening her behaviour slips, her sleep goes downhill. I feel we have struck a happy balance... this week, it may all change next week! lol

Bit of a tangent here!
Back to discussing the program....

still wonder how the school deal with the kids on the tv prog?

But it was on this thread, KerryMum, that you got cross with people who suggested that Dante and Aimee needed to learn some manners.

By asking not to be identified probably . I wish I knew. Then I would tell ds's school.

re rude/bratty behaviour: we have to remember the programme will have been seriously edited. Most of the teenagers I know, even the really lovely ones, display that kind of behaviour on occasions. So we don't really know whether those children are like that all the time or whether the programme makers just chose those bits to make better telly. If someone filmed me for a few days, I could be represented as the sweetest, kindest, meekest soul you'd ever meet (which of course I am most of the time) , or conversely the biggest bitch with a foul mouth and never without a glass of wine in her hand (which I am not, most of the time).

The nice stuff doesn't make good tv. They have to edit it very carefully.

But Dante and Aimee's parents didn't seem to challenge the bad behaviour and just treated it as if it was how things were. That was the big difference between them and Michael's family.

Wow - I have a 12 year old - and if she talked to me the way Aimee talked to her mother she would be in such deep s**t. But, actually, she wouldn't. Or, at least, at the moment she wouldn't!

My ds can't see the point of homework or school work. He does it but you can see that there's no effort behind it. I ask what he's learnt at school and the answer is always the same, nothing because he already knew it. He's been asking about sub atomic nuclear particles this morning . I can't see them teaching him about that somehow. What would you do? Should I tell him (once I have worked out what they are)? He's top of the class, not bad considering he's skipped a year. Some of his maths work is from the class above aswell, putting him at least 2 years ahead in some areas. He's due to start a new school in September. I dread having to go through things again. They want to move him back into his age group, I'm concerned he'll have to repeat things or they will not find out what level he's at (not that anyone knows now though).

I wouldn't let him speak to me like Aimee speaks to her mother, I wouldn't brush his hair at 12 either though.

Kerrymum

MY DS is the same age as these 3 and if he spoke to a Dr like that I would have "his guts for garters"

Of course they all have their moments but deffo in public I would not accept that behaviour. At home I wouldn't either really but deffo not in public.

avenanap it is year 8/9 science iirc

how old is your DS?