Introduction
This page is dedicated to all of our children who have shown us that giftedness comes in many different sayings, actions, and thoughts. Please feel free to email us with your own addition to this page!
You know you are the parent of a gifted child when...
...your 19 month old announces that the sunset is too beautiful, and you fret that she will hurt her eyes from staring at the setting sun rather than rejoice in her innate sense of beauty.
...after finding out that your husband's cholesterol is high, your 6 year old daughter immediately sits him down and demands to see the list of food he is not supposed to eat. Following this, she gathers the material for him to make a list of everything that he eats from now on. She then rests his head on his shoulder and lovingly says, [in answer to the unspoken, why does daddy need to do this], 'Because Daddy, we don't want to take any chances'.
...your 22 month old announces that she doesn't want to eat meat and wants to be a 'herbivore'.
...you are on a research trip at the University library and you have your 5 year old with you because he insisted he had to do some research too. He then proceeds to pick up a copy of the journal, 'Abnormal Child Psychology', and starts to read in a perfect and loud voice, 'Hyperactive children were noisier and vocalized more than control children in teacher-led group activities...' Following which he states...'GREAT! This is exactly what I was looking for!!'.
...when your 9 year old, planning to tape a show for tomorrow at 4:30pm calculates, in a moment, the exact amount of hours and minutes until the time of the show -- from 8:17pm the night before.
...you take your 24 month old to the doctor's office for their check up, and the doctor tells her that he is going to press on her tummy. In a very petulant manner, she says, 'No you're not, you are pressing on my intestines.'
...when your 2 year old asks you, 'Dad, if 2+6=8, would b+f=h?'
...on the morning of your 30th birthday, your 5 year old daughter bounces into your bed with an ear-to-ear grin and says, 'Mommy, guess what? You're six times older than I am!'
...when your 3 year old writes -- 'bdefghijklmnopqrsuvwxyz' -- and tells you that she just wrote the word 'c' 'a' 't'.
...when you've just had a very difficult, trying time at a store over an incompetent cashier with your 22 month old and your 7 month old and, in a fume, you get them back into the car, telling them that it wasn't their fault you were upset. As you start the car, you hear from the back, 'Mommy?', 'Yes,' you answer. 'I love you', is the reply.
...you say things like "if you finish your homework quickly, you'll have lots of time to work on the musical play you are writing" to your seven year old!
...your 2 year old says, 'I really don't think I care for those mufrooms but those carrots look delectable.'
...At her OT assessment, your just-turned five year old was told to draw a face on the chalkboard. She drew a face with the eyes, nose, ears and mouth in non-traditional places and proudly announced that she had just drawn them a Picasso!
...your 2 year old tells you that Sesame Street is for babies.
...when you are asking your niece if she can tell you the name of an animal that rhymes with 'flair', and before she can answer, your 2 year old, who was playing with trains beside you, lifts up his head and says, 'Bear', then continues pushing his trains along the track.
...your 2 year old requests to go to the bathroom with the statement, 'Mom, my bladder is full.'
...when your 2 year old, after settling down a little after some playtime, and having procured your hugs and kisses, starts feeling your face as if for the first time. With a concerned expression, he traces his little fingers around your eye area and then pops up with, '' Oh poor mommy, your face is cracked '' (referring to your 'laughter lines'.)
...you give your 18 month old a snack and say "Here are some yummy pi-pi chunks for you!" to which she responds, "Actually, it's pineapple".
...when your children (11 and 8 at the time) spontaneously decide to draw pie-chart diagrams of the leading politician. Decidedly not Tory supporters, they draw the pie charts as follows: a huge piece marked 'reducing taxes', tiny slivers marked 'health' , 'education' and 'social services', and large pieces marked 'golf' and 'naked women'. 'Dumb commercials' and 'fluff' were also pieces of the chart.
...when your kindergartner comes home from his 3rd day of school and tells you he's quitting and that he wants to stay home and do 'real work'.
...your head hurts at the end of the day because you've just used more research skills in answering your 3 year old's questions than you ever did in 6 years of graduate school.
...your six your old son explains your hysterectomy to his six year old cousin - in detail.
...when your 5 year old announces that she knows all the names of the Dwarves. Expecting to hear, 'Dopey, Happy, Sleepy', etc, you hear, 'There's Bifu, Bofur, Bombur, Dori, and Ori, Dwalin, and Balin...' Skipping away from you, you hear her singing, 'One Ring to rule them all and one Ring to bind them...'
...they think a giant UNICEF box would be a great halloween costume!
...your 4 year old, having been working on addition and multiplication a few days before, asks, 'Dad, what's algebra?' And, when you explain the standard one variable equation, proceeds to try to teach his new JK class the concept.
...your 5 year old spends a whole month creating a surprise birthday present for her dad. Only working on it when he is out of the house, she shows it to him on the expected day. A home made calendar. His happiness at the home-made gift is compounded by the fact that, because is daughter knew the day, and date of his birthday, she was able to accurately label each and ever day in the calendar.