Parenting Gifted Children

"Parenting a gifted child is like living in a theme park of full thrill rides.  Sometimes you smile.  Sometimes you gasp.  Sometimes you scream.  Sometimes you laugh.  Sometimes you gaze in wonder and astonishment.  Sometimes you're frozen in your seat.  Sometimes you're proud.  And sometimes, the ride is so nerve-wracking, you can't do anything but cry." Carol Strip & Gretchen Hirsh, in Webb, Gore, Amend, & DeVries, A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children Parenting the gifted child

See also ... Young Children, Parenting Gifted Girls and Sibling Relationships

The 10 most commonly asked questions about highly gifted children by Kathi Kearney

Who are the highly gifted?  How many are there?  How do I know??  These and many other questions answered...
 

10 Things NOT to say to Your Gifted Child by Nancy, Jennifer, Sarah and Joshua Heilbronner

So often we read about what to do and say with gifted kids, but no one ever mentions what NOT to do... until now. The Heilbronner's speak from first-hand experience, cautioning us about the harm these 10 simple comments can do to the young gifted child.  Every parent (and teacher, too!) should read these 10 Things NOT to say to Your Gifted Child...
 

Anxiety-Free Kids: An Interactive Guide for Parents and Children by Bonnie Zucker (or from Amazon)

Parent strategies that help children become happy and worry free, methods that relieve a child's excessive anxieties and phobias, and tools for fostering interaction and family-oriented solutions. Using a unique companion approach that offers two books in one—a practical, reader-friendly book for parents and a fun workbook for kids—this solutions-oriented guide utilizes the cognitive-behavioral approach to therapy by integrating the parent in the child's self-help process...
 

Being Smart about Gifted Education: A Guidebook for Educators and Parents by Dona J. Matthews and Joanne F. Foster

Practical strategies for the education of exceptionally high ability (a.k.a. gifted) children.  After addressing all the questions, debates and arguments about nature vs. nurture, elitism, testing, creativity, and more... all that's left is to serve the child's educational needs! Also available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca  

Bright, Talented, and Black: A Guide for Families of African American Gifted Learners by Joy Lawson Davis

What does it really mean to be gifted and African American in the U.S. today? What do parents and teachers of gifted black students need to know to help students explore their potential, thrive in school and life. Easy to read, full of great insight for every reader, regardless of race...
 

The Care and Feeding of Gifted Parent Groups: A Guide for Gifted Coordinators, Teachers, and Parent Advocates by Wenda Sheard

12 quick steps to form an effective advocacy group... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Dumbing Down America: The War on Our Nation's Brightest Young Minds (And What We Can Do to Fight Back) by James R. Delisle (or Kindle)

At a time when the U.S. education system consistently lags behind its international peers, Dumbing Down America shows exactly why America can't keep up by providing a critical look at the nation's schools through the eyes of the children whose minds are languishing in countless classrooms. Filled with specific examples of how gifted children are being shortchanged by a nation that believes smart kids will succeed on their own, Dumbing Down America packs a powerful message: If we want our nation to prosper, we must pay attention to its most intelligent youth...
 

Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds by Jan and Bob Davidson, with Laura Vanderkam (or Kindle)

The Davidsons offer an absorbing look at how our nation is neglecting children of exceptional intelligence. They make a compelling case for re-approaching giftedness as a potential disability (to give more attention to gifted kids) and an even stronger argument for parents, teachers and citizens to consider the potential loss to American society in the costliest imaginable terms.  For excerpts and review, visit Genius Denied.  Also available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca

 

Giftedness 101 by Linda Silverman

Equally accessible to the education professional as to the parent, written by a recent pioneer in the field. Dispels common myths about giftedness, challenges the view that eminence is the true signifier of giftedness, provides support for the twice exceptional, offers specific guidelines to parents and teachers, describes comprehensive assessment of the gifted, and focuses on the complex inner world of the gifted... Don't miss this volume!
 

Guiding the Gifted Child: A Practical Source for Parents and Teachers by James T. Webb, Elizabeth A. Meckstroth, Stephanie S. Tolan

Considered the classic text of this field. Also available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca 

Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days by Kevin Leman

This actually works! You'd like to see a few things--or many--change in your house. Have a New Kid by Friday is a game plan guaranteed to work. All it takes is sticking to some simple strategies--strategies any parent can carry out...

 

If This is a Gift, Can I Send It Back?: Surviving in the Land of the Gifted and Twice Exceptional by Jen Merrill, author of Laughing at Chaos (or from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum)

Join Jen on her journey of discovery, acceptance, and understanding, as she brings humor and wit to the challenges that only the gifted and twice exceptional can create... read this yourself, or read it aloud to your parenting partner, but whatever you do, do NOT read this in a quiet waiting room!

 

National Parenting Gifted Children Week Blog Tours | Hoagies' Gifted

Read the great blogs posts and wise words, part of SENG & NAGC's National Parenting Gifted Children Week each July!
 

A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children by James T. Webb, Janet L. Gore, Edward R. Amend & Arlene R. DeVries

Raising a gifted child is both a joy and a challenge...  guides parents through all the phases and possibilities of the gifted child, including underachievement, sensitivities, twice exceptionalities, friendships, siblings, schools, identification, and much more!

 

Parent's Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education by David Palmer or Kindle edition

Great introduction to IQ testing and gifted children.  Answers your questions, from Why test? to What do the scores mean? and What about scores of twice exceptional children?  Every parent entering the gifted education world should read this book...

 

Raisin' Brains by Karen L.J. Isaacson

A humorous look inside the home of 5 very gifted children... from the mom's point of view.  Prepare to have your funny bone tickled!  And now the sequel... Life in the Fast Brain: Keeping Up With Gifted Minds.  It's not only rip-roaringly funny, but full it's of great ideas, some of which you do NOT want your kids to find out about!
 

Raising a Gifted Child: A Parenting Success Handbook by Carol Fertig (or from Amazon)

A menu of strategies, resources, organizations, tips, and suggestions for parents to find optimal learning opportunities for their kids, covering the gamut of talent areas, including academics, the arts, technology, creativity, music, and thinking skills. Focused on empowering parents by giving them the tools needed to ensure that their gifted kids are happy and successful both in and out of school...
 

Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child Is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent, and Energetic by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka

If you have an exceptionally spirited child, this book is written for you.
Also available Raising Your Spirited Child Workbook
 

SENG Model Parent Groups (SMPG)

SENG Model Parent Groups bring together 10 to 20 interested parents of gifted and talented children, usually for 10 weeks, to discuss topics including motivation, discipline, stress management, and peer relationships. Co-facilitators, though knowledgeable about parenting and educating gifted children, do not give expert advice, instead providing a non-judgmental, nurturing atmosphere. Parents themselves are a rich resource of information, getting fresh ideas from other parents and from A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children, the book around which the sessions are organized...
 

A September Secret by Wenda Sheard

Dear teacher, I’m writing you because I want to tell you a secret about me... the letter our kids wish they could send each year before school
 

Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child's True Potential by Eileen Kennedy-Moore & Mark S. Lowenthal

It takes more than school smarts to create a fulfilling life. In fact, many bright children face special challenges: perfectionism, fear of effort because they're used to instant success, some routinely butt heads with authority figures, some struggle to get along with their peers, some are outwardly successful but just don't feel good about themselves. Practical and compassionate book explains the reasons behind these struggles and offers parents do-able strategies...
 

Smart Teens' Guide to Living with Intensity: How to Get More Out of Life and Learning by Lisa Rivero

A guide for pre-teens and teens who are a little more... more intense, more creative, more interesting, and yes, sometimes even called "more difficult."  A teen's perspective into growing up as a gifted teen today.  And for the parents, A Parent's Guide to Gifted Teens: Living with Intense and Creative Adolescents
 

Some of My Best Friends Are Books: Guiding Gifted Readers from Preschool to High School by Judith Wynn Halsted

Roeper Review says "...should be on the shelf of every school library, whether that school offers gifted programming or not."  Also available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca 

1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas W. Phelan 

Surviving Your Adolescents: How to Manage-and Let Go of-Your 13-18 Year Olds

1-2-3 Magic for Teachers: Effective Classroom Discipline Pre-K through Grade 8 by Thomas W. Phelan and Sarah Jane Schonour

Simple, effective child-management plan, enables parents and teachers to discipline children by instituting a system of counting and time-outs, delivered straightforwardly and unemotionally.  Control your kids without yelling...  Especially useful with oppositional gifted kids
 

Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) by Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler

With projects, activities, experiences, and skills ranging from "Superglue Your Fingers Together" to "Play with Fire," along with 48 other great ideas, the book is a manifesto for kids and parents alike to reclaim childhood. Easy to follow instructions, fun facts, and challenging undertakings that will engage and inspire whole households.  View the Ted Talk: Gever Tulley on 5 dangerous things for kids
 

The "Achievement by Proxy" spectrum: recognition and clinical response to pressured and high-achieving children and adolescents by Ian R. Tofler (available from Highbeam.com, by subscription, or free trial)

Supportive behavior refers to adult pride and satisfaction experienced in supporting a child's development while also nurturing that child's abilities, special talents, and performances. It is natural for parents to have ambitions for their children and to sacrifice for them.  The adult is at risk for crossing the line [when] social advancement and financial benefits of the child's achievements have now become important, concurrent, or even primary goals for the adult...
 

Advice on gifted education by Terrence Tao

Education is a complex, multifaceted, and painstaking process, and being gifted does not make this less so. I would caution against any single “silver bullet” to educating a gifted child...
 

Appropriate Expectations For The Gifted Child by Arlene R. DeVries

Parents and educators working cooperatively can make a significant difference in the emotional and intellectual growth of the gifted child. However, for these children to fully benefit from this combined effort, parents and schools must recognize and work together toward similar goals...
 

Being Smart about Health and Wellness: Teach Kids the Terrible Truth by Wenda Sheard

Analytical kids will do the environmental math about driving to the gym to exercise on machines and point out the irony. Justice-seeking kids will do the ethical math about the unfair effects of buying quinoa from poor Peruvians and refuse to eat the grain, or read this January 2014 Slate article and resume eating it. Well-read kids might point out that participation in organized sports will not address the root causes of the gargantuan health and wellness problems facing first world people today–problems like obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. You want the terrible truth? Here it is: Teach Kids the Terrible Truth
 

But I Did Everything Right! by Sharon Begley, in Newsweek

DNA discoveries are revealing why even the best parenting doesn't have the effects experts promise, from breast-feeding to letting kids learn from mistakes.  Or why different kids, even in the same family, react differently to the same situations and need different parenting styles, and may still not learn from their own mistakes...
 

Children & Nature Network’s Research and Studies

Children are smarter, cooperative, happier and healthier when they have frequent and varied opportunities for free and unstructured play in the outdoors.  Here's the research to support those claims, including Faber Taylor and Kuo's important research to the understanding of the impact of nature on people's lives, and specifically to the well-being of children...
 

A Collage of Parents' Stories by James Alvino, in Gifted Child Today ($)

Five sets of parents have agreed to share their experiences, observations about emerging abilities, and their attempts to nurture those abilities. ..issues faced and problems solved, intuitively or sometimes with guidebooks, as they realized their children were developing at a faster pace or with greater complexities... to encourage other parents while reinforcing personal strengths that readers might see in their own parenting styles and family environments...
 

Considerations and Strategies for Parenting the Gifted Child by James Alvino

NRC/GT research study.  Parents of gifted children are typically the single most important influence in their child’s development, outlook, and fulfillment of talent. In addition to being their child’s primary caregivers, parents of gifted children alternately function as “mentor,” “praiser,” “disciplinarian,” “playmate,” “teacher,” and sometimes “best friend.” Parents are truly the guardians and nurturers of their children’s talents. The home environment is critical in nurturing giftedness and instilling the values conducive to its full blossoming... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Considering Independent Boarding Schools as an Educational Alternative by Patsy Kumekawa

Independent residential secondary schools can be viable educational options, but they are by no means equal, especially with respect to genuinely gifted students...
 

A Counselor's Perspective on Parenting High Potential by Jean Sunde Peterson

High ability certain does not preclude burdensome stress.  Affective concerns of the gifted should not be discounted either at school or home...
 

Critical, demanding parents can damage gifted children by Marilyn Elias, in USA Today

Gifted children and teenagers [are] likely to be as mentally healthy as their less able classmates.  All bets are off, though, if the kids have critical parents who demand stellar performance every day; that approach can create nail-biting perfectionists who fear taking risks and fall short of their potential.  "Having high standards is not the problem, it's focusing on external success..."
 

Developing Mathematical Talent: Advice to Parents by Ann Lupkowski-Shoplik, director of the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Talented Elementary and Secondary Students (C-MITES)

Although IQ testing is useful, it doesn’t provide enough specific information to pinpoint students’ abilities in math. Grade-level tests are not advanced enough and don’t accurately gauge these abilities. Students need to take an above-level test, such as university talent searches offer, to measure their mathematical reasoning.  Based on the results of the testing, a student’s abilities can be matched to the curriculum level...
 

Developing Your Child's Habits of Success in School, Life and Work by Arthur L. Costa

12 strategies for helping your children be successful... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Do You Want a Gifted or Hard-working Child? by Jim Taylor, in Psychology Today

Though Taylor's conclusion that parents and children would rather be gifted than hard-working is dubious, many of his observations are valuable: Because they're gifted, these children experience early success and little or no failure. Because everything comes so easily to them, many never learn the skills-hard work, persistence, patience, perseverance, discipline-that will enable them to become truly successful...
 

Does Your Gifted Child Need Professional Help? by Steven Curtis

It is clear that gifted children are frequently misdiagnosed as having a particular disorder when they actually are quite normal for who they are. In order to investigate normality, each child must be looked at holistically.  Curtis gives five preliminary steps for parents to answer first, to determine if additional professional intervention should be sought...
 

Early Career Planning is Essential for Gifted Adolescents by Paula Kosin and William Tirre

Most people know that everyone needs education beyond high school; however, help with developing a thoughtful career plan is often not provided. In today's world, parents cannot afford to ignore helping their children with this important task...
 

El Desarrollo en el Niño Superdotado (Asynchronous Development in the Gifted Child) by Joy Navan

La verdad es que cada individuo se desarrolla a su propio ritmo, pero para los que son sobredotados, el desarrollo es asincrónico. ¿Qué quiere decir asincrónico? Sencillamente que el desarrollo en un niño superdotado no es parejo. Por ejemplo, la característica singular del sobredotado es su alta inteligencia la cual le permite aprender y memorizar más rápido que otros de su edad...
 

Emotional Intelligence and Creativity of their Gifted Children: A Summary of CTD's Spring 1998 conference by Rhoda Rosen

It is vital to nurture emotional intelligence alongside cognitive intelligence to produce a confident, self-assured adult who enjoys and is capable of being productive; warning against stressing the cognitive at the expense of the emotional development of the gifted child; provides ways for parents to identify early warning signs that their gifted child may be struggling to establish emotional security....
 

Encouraging Your Child's Science Talent by Michael S. Matthews
Encouraging Your Child's Math Talent by Michael J., Ph.D. Bosse and Jennifer V. Rotigel 
Encouraging Your Child's Writing Talent by Nancy L. Peterson

The Involved Parents' Guide.  Great little books for parents who need help guiding their gifted children in areas that they (the parents) just aren't prepared for, whether you're a linguist raising a mathematician, or a builder raising a writer, or you feel in any way unprepared for your child's passionate interest...
 

Enjoy Your Gifted Child by Carol Addison Takacs

Includes topics such as role models and social skills...
 

The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene

Not ADHD, not ODD, but... explosive.  Whether at home, school, or both, this book gives great insight and good advice into these often frustrating children...
 

Fighting Guilt by Charlotte Riggle

Misplaced parental guilt is a monster... Seducing you with what might have been, it wastes your time, erodes your confidence, devours your energy, and distracts you from what is – which is the only thing you can do anything about
 

Fostering Academic Creativity in Gifted Students (ERIC Digest #484) by Paul E. Torrance and Kathy Goff

Some things caring adults can do to foster and nurture creativity in gifted students...
 

From Music to Sports: Autonomy Fosters Passion Among Kids from Science Daily

Parents take heed: children and young adults are more likely to pursue sports, music or other pastimes when given an opportunity to nurture their own passion. "Children and teenagers who are allowed to be autonomous are more likely to actively engage in their activity over time..."
 

Get Out!: 150 Easy Ways for Kids & Grown-Ups to Get Into Nature and Build a Greener Future by Judy Molland

Fun activities to inspire a love of nature along with a desire to protect it. It doesn't matter if you live in a city apartment, a suburban neighborhood, or out in the sticks - you will find dozens of doable activities adults can enjoy with children...
 

Gifted Children: Are Their Gifts Being Identified, Encouraged, or Ignored? by Julia B. Osborn

How experts define giftedness and what parents and educators can do to support a child's special abilities.  Gifted children, like other children, need appropriate education, satisfying friendships and supportive parenting. Problems encountered may be due in part to the common and mistaken belief that children endowed with remarkable intelligence and/or talents have no special educational needs...
 

Gifted Parent Groups: The SENG Model by James T. Webb & Arlene Devries

A great guide for running a gifted parenting group, with week by week topics, guidelines for facilitators, and more...
 

Good Friends Are Hard to Find: Help Your Child Find, Make, and Keep Friends by Fred Frankel and Barry Wetmore

A step by step guide to 'what's age appropriate' for play, and how parents can make rules for kids to keep them moving in the direction of making and keeping friends. Good for shy kids and kids who seem to not get those unwritten social rules, or kids who have to deal with agemates that seem alien to them.  Read the Davidson Institute review...
 

Grandparents' Guide To Gifted Children by James T. Webb, Janet L. Gore and Frances A. Karnes

Grandparents, with their greater life experience, will often realize—even before the parents—that a child is gifted, and that the child will need additional emotional and intellectual sustenance...
 

Grandparents: What You (and maybe only you) Can Do to Support Your Grandchildren's Talent Development by Nancy Robinson

Rearing a gifted and/or talented child is both labor-intensive and resource-intensive. Grandparents can help both directly and indirectly. They can support their grandchildren indirectly by backing up their own children in fulfilling parental responsibilities. More directly, they can support the needs and passions of their grandchildren...
 

Hard Won Truths by Juliet

Rules to live by, for parents of highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted children... Worth the time to read even if you don't think you have one of these!
 

Helping Gifted Children and Their Families Prepare for College: A Handbook Designed to Assist Economically Disadvantaged and First-Generation College Attendees by Avis L. Wright and Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, Center for Talent Development, Northwestern University

Created to assist high school juniors and seniors and their parents prepare for the college admissions and financial assistance processes, this booklet will attempt to identify and explain assumptions, terms, and procedures associated with applying to college or financial aid; give helpful tips to parents and students; highlight resources which can lend support and assistance; and will also provide a checklist designed to chart those activities critical to the admissions process...  Also available in PDF format (requires ^Adobe)
 

Helping Gifted Children Soar: A Practical Guide for Parents and Teachers by Carol Ann Strip

This user friendly guidebook educates parents and teachers about important gifted issues, an ideal resource for the beginner to seasoned veteran in educating gifted children
 

How Can I Support My Gifted Child? (ERIC Digest)

Raising and nurturing a gifted child can be an exciting yet daunting challenge. This brochure defines giftedness and offers some insight into what parents can do to act as their child's best advocate throughout the school years...
 

How to Handle a Hard-To-Handle Kid: A Parent's Guide to Understanding and Changing Problem Behaviors by C. Drew Edwards

Writing with authority and compassion, Edwards explains why some children are especially challenging, for reasons from ADHD to profoundly gifted, then spells out clear, specific strategies parents can use to address and correct problem behaviors with firmness and love
 

How to Work and Homeschool: Practical Advice, Tips, and Strategies from Parents by Pamela Price  (or from Gifted Homeschoolers Forum)

Do you want to homeschool, but you need to keep working? Maybe you’re already homeschooling, but you would like to start a business? Perhaps you’re homeschooling, working, and volunteering, but need to create space for yourself? Can this be done? How do other parents manage?

 

Infinity and Zebra Stripes: Life with Gifted Children by Wendy Skinner

This book offers sage words for beginning parents and seasoned insights for those more experienced, including teachers. Skinner's unvarnished chronicle of life with 2 gifted children strikes just the right balance. More importantly, this rewarding little book highlights the responsibility of parents to reach out for information, stay aware of the bigger picture, and not leave the development of gifted children to chance...
 

An Interview with Stephanie Tolan by Douglas Eby

If I'm at a conference about highly gifted kids, the parents are there, knowing their kids are so different, and yet when I say 'Where did this kid come from?' they will say 'We have no idea.'
 

Is Your Underachiever Lazy, Dumb, or Unappreciated? by Christine Duvivier

If your teen is in the bottom 80% of the class, you may have been told – or thought– that she is “an underachiever” (a polite way of saying lazy or dumb). Underachiever compared to what? Compared to the narrowly-defined measures of school performance or compared to the abilities that will help her to thrive in life?  In my opinion, your child is not under-achieving. I think your child is under-appreciated...
 

The Joy and the Challenge: Parenting Gifted Children by SENG (eBook)

Articles and resources from SENG's National Parenting Gifted Children Week. Topics include identifying and recognizing giftedness, the challenges of parenting a gifted child, underachievement issues and twice exceptionalism, gifted minorities and gifted boys and girls, misdiagnosis and depression in gifted youth, advocacy, and parenting supports and resources, by authors including: Ed Amend, Paul Beljan, Lori Comallie-Caplan, Rosina Gallagher, Jean Goerss, Tiombe Kendrick, Carolyn Kottmeyer, Linda Neumann, Richard Olenchak, Vidisha Patel, James Webb, and Nadia Webb...
 

The Joys and Challenges in Raising a Gifted Child by Nancy Moore

Our total experience, measured by Sara's growth in maturity and intellectual powers, has been positive. But we can note this only in retrospect. There have been many frustrations along the way. We hope that this account of our experiences will help other parents to educate their own special child...
 

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv 

Today's kids are increasingly disconnected from the natural world, says Louv (Childhood's Future; Fatherlove; etc.), even as research shows that "thoughtful exposure of youngsters to nature can... be a powerful form of therapy for attention-deficit disorder and other maladies." Instead of passing summer months hiking, swimming and telling stories around the campfire, children these days are more likely to attend computer camps or weight-loss camps: as a result, they've come to think of nature as more of an abstraction than a reality...
 

Life In The Asynchronous Family by Kathi Kearney

From asynchrony within the gifted child to asynchrony in the family to asynchrony in the larger society, from the "early empty nest" syndrome to schooling and other bureaucracies, a great summary of life with the gifted child!
And the follow up, More Life with Max...
 

Making the most of chance events by Patricia A. Haensly, in Gifted Child Today ($)

Chance and luck, when preceded by your own trust in the good sense of your highly capable offspring, good sense that you have worked to generate, can become powerful ingredients in your child's successful journey into productive adulthood...
 

My Gifted Girl

Provides gifted and talented girls and women a community of support and inspiration, serving as a resource for parents, educators, mentors and those that seek to support the gifted and talented women of today and the future...
 

Nurturing Appreciation of Reading by Herb Katz, in Parenting for High Potential

a parent's main goal should be to keep the light of literacy shining brightly.  Five Things Parents Can Do to Encourage Reading...
 

Nurturing the gifted by Tan Ee Loo, in The Malaysian Star

Carolyn K. speaking to participants on the first day of a conference entitled “Understanding Gifted Children: Facts and Myths” held recently at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor....
 

On Giftedness, Guilt and the thorny issue of behaviours in school– Parents, the System and the Seven Rebosos of Guilt a blog post by Innreach's Blog – Leslinks Ireland- Gifted, Talented & Creative Support/Edu Page

In dealing with the thorny issue of guilt and childrens behaviours,  parents often find themselves tossed  back and forth between whole ranges of different coloured spectrums and strands of feelings...
 

Parent Council

Reviews of the best in new children's materials from a learning perspective...
 

Parenting Emotionally Intense Gifted Children by Lesley Sword

Giftedness has an emotional as well as intellectual component. Intellectual complexity goes hand in hand with emotional depth. So gifted children not only think differently from other children they also feel differently...
 

Parenting Gifted Adolescents by Glenda L. Griffin, in Gifted Child Today ($)

Adolescents need to feel that parents trust them and believe that they will make the right decisions or perform the right actions should decisions or actions become necessary.  Along with saying yes as often as possible comes the importance of giving adolescents choices. This allows young adolescents some control over their own lives...
 

Parenting Gifted Kids: Tips for Raising Happy, and Successful Kids by James R. Delisle (or from Amazon)

Provides a humorous, engaging and encouraging look at raising gifted children today.  Offers practical, down-to-earth advice that will cause parents to reexamine the ways they perceive and relate to their children...
 

Parenting Gifted Preschoolers

Realising that your preschooler is gifted can catch you unawares, especially if the child is your firstborn... includes a great chart of early developmental milestones!
 

Parenting highly gifted children: The challenges, the joys, the unexpected surprises by Kathi Kearney

For families of highly gifted children, the practical consequence of this situation is that the parents and children themselves often must use their own resources to seek out information about extreme giftedness and its impact on schooling and family life...
 

Parenting Practices to Support Gifted Children by Julia Osborn

Gifted students, often quite unique, may a variety of gifts. While no child or teen will be gifted in all areas, good parenting practices can be focused on the individual child’s abilities. Parenting practices, programs and references are offered as a starting point...  Also in Prácticas de Crinza para Apoyar a Niños Superdotados, Chinese or Korean (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Parenting Successful Children a video/DVD by Jim Webb

Over two dozen key strategies for parents to enhance family relationships...  Several other video/DVD titles are available: Do Gifted Children Need Special Help? and Is My Child Gifted? also by Jim Webb
 

Parenting With Love and Logic: Teaching Children Responsibility by Jim Fay and Foster W. Cline
Also available on cassette

Parenting Teens With Love & Logic: Preparing Adolescents for Responsible Adulthood Also available on cassette

Grandparenting With Love & Logic: Practical Solutions to Today's Grandparenting Challenges

Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years Also available on CD
Meeting the Challenge: Using Love and Logic to Help Children Develop Attention and Behavior Skills

A common sense approach to raising children, with lots of humor and positive suggestions for dealing with negative situations. Great parenting resource!
 

Parents and Professionals as Partners: A Psychologist's View by Nancy M. Robinson

As a psychologist who works with the families of gifted children I'm witness to a great many battles that could and should have been avoided.  In my view, a very high priority needs to be given to establishing a working partnership among parents and all other adults...
 

Parents are the best source of information about their children's abilities by John Worthington

Parents are a highly accurate and reliable source of information about their children's intelligence and abilities with most able to predict their child's IQ to within a few points, according to a University of Queensland PhD study... Also see A Longitudinal Study of Early Literacy Development and the Changing Perceptions of Parents and Teachers
 

Parents as Instructional Partners in the Education of Gifted Children by Mary Radaszewski-Byrne

The most important elements in a professional/parental partnerships is one in which parents and teachers are truly instructional partners; they have a joint focus on the abilities and interests of an individual child, a willingness to work together, a communication on assignments, and a commitment to responsibilities. Together, professionals and parents can extend the professional's capacity and provide the type of individualized education gifted children need when placed in a regular classroom...
 

Parents conceptions of giftedness by Razel Solow, in Gifted Child Today

Parents' conceptions about giftedness may affect their interpretations of their gifted children's characteristics and behaviors and, in turn, may influence their reaction to them. The bidirectional nature of parent-child relationships has become apparent in the last decade of child-development research. "Our children as much rear us as we do them... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

A Parent's Guide to Helping Children: Using Bibliotherapy at Home by Mary Rizza

Bibliotherapy is the use of literature that addresses problems or issues current in the lives of children...
 

Parent's Guide to Raising a Gifted Child: Recognizing and Developing Your Child's Potential from Preschool to Adolescence by James Alvino

A practical, informative, and authoritative primer for raising and educating our gifted children from preschool to adolescence. Beginning with sensible strategies to determine whether -- and in which area -- your child is gifted, this book takes parents through selecting an appropriate day-care center, a school, and a home reference library...
 

Parents, Research, and the School Curriculum by Mallory Bagwell

A child's initial entry into school causes a parent to ask him or herself, "What is it I wish my child to become?"
 

Peer Rejection... Almost Bullying by Charlotte Riggle

Some things I've told my kids when they were having peer problems...  First, I have explained the developmental nature of peer nastiness...  Second, I have explained, explicitly, that everyone else feels the same way... Third...
 

Picky Parent Guide: Choose Your Child's School With Confidence, the Elementary Years, K-6 by Bryan C. Hassel and Emily Ayscue Hassel

Leaves no stones unturned in addressing the critical intersection of child, family and school, and they have presented the material in a friendly, indexed, bite-sized format that makes Picky Parent Guide an invaluable reference...
Or download the Adobe PDF Choose a School for Your Gifted Child: A Picky Parent Guide Quick Kit (requires ^{Adobe Reader})

 

"Pushy Parents" ... Bad Rap or Necessary Role? by Arlene R. DeVries

Are pushy parents getting a bad rap? Perhaps. But informed parents who advocate for their gifted children are a necessity if gifted education programs are to survive!
 

Preaching to the Choir: TV Advisory Ratings and Gifted Children by Robert Abelman

Parents most likely to embrace the rating advisory system... are high academic achievers, most of whom were school-classified as intellectually gifted and participating in special education opportunities...
 

Profoundly gifted guilt by Jim Delisle

Parents of profoundly gifted children often feel isolated in seeking solutions to these and other life dilemmas. Each dilemma seems dire and life-changing (how else could you describe the decision to allow a 10-year-old to begin taking college courses?) and parents of profoundly gifted children often feel as if the wrong decision will result in the most awful of consequences...
 

Queen Bee Moms & Kingpin Dads: Dealing with the Parents, Teachers, Coaches, and Counselors Who Can Make--or Break--Your Child's Future by Rosalind Wiseman & Elizabeth Rapoport 

By the author who brought us Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, helps parents navigate "the unspoken rules of Perfect Parent World" so they can find their own "happy medium between overprotective parenting and frightened passivity." Her bottom line: parents have to model good behavior if they want to end up with good kids.

 

Raising Topsy-Turvy Kids: Successfully Parenting Your Visual-Spatial Child by Alexandra Shires Golon

How do you know if you have one?  Allie paints a perfect picture!  And how do you parent and educate them?  Learn here.  Read excerpts Organizational Skills for Visual-Spatial Learners and Maintaining Harmony at Home (requires ^Adobe)
 

Responsibility: Raising Children You Can Depend On by Lisa Stamps in Duke Gifted Letter

It can be difficult to help the siblings of special needs children understand that parents are not favoring the special needs child, that he or she truly has severe learning issues...
 

The School Life of a Gifted Child by Dawn Meier

I wrote this to let others know where I went wrong. I should have fought from the very beginning with a different attitude. I should have trusted my instincts. Please, parents, always trust your instincts...
 

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids by Carol S. Dweck, in Scientific American Mind

Young people who believe that their intelligence alone will enable them to succeed in school are often discouraged when the going gets tough.  Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than for their intelligence)...
 

Sibling Relationships

Gifted siblings often have unique relationships; they also have all the common sibling relationships.  Find research and reference on all these relationships...
 

Sifting Your Harvard Questions, Looking For Parenting (and Other) Lessons in New York Times blog The Choice

The drive to “get them into college” is, particularly in certain parts of the country, and among certain circles of parents, really the drive to “get them into the ‘best’ college.” When we say “the best college” what most parents mean (or say they mean, or should mean) is the one that is the “best fit”...
 

A Smarter Brain by Marc Lallanilla

A recent study of adolescents with above-average math abilities found the right and left halves of their brains are apparently better able to interact and share information than the brains of average students...
 

Snooze or Lose by Ashley Merryman in New York Magazine

A couple of years ago, Sadeh sent 77 fourth-graders and sixth-graders home with randomly drawn instructions to either go to bed earlier or stay up later for three nights.  A researcher went to the school in the morning to test the children’s neurobiological functioning.  “A loss of one hour of sleep is equivalent to [the loss of] two years of cognitive maturation and development...”
 

The Social-Emotional Health of Children: An Interview with Psychologist Maureen Neihart

What are the major beliefs out there about the social-emotional or psychological health of gifted children?
 

Some Children Under Some Conditions: TV and the High Potential Kid by Robert Abelman, Cleveland State University

The catastrophic impact of television on youth, as depicted in the popular press, is equally fictitious. After all, being intellectually gifted places children in both advantageous and detrimental positions in terms of how TV is used, for what reasons, and to what effect. For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For other children under the same conditions, or for the same children under other conditions, it may be beneficial. There is little doubt, however, that for nearly all children television has created a fundamental change in daily life... (requires ^{Adobe Reader})
 

Spirit and opportunity: re-exploring giftedness and parents' expanding directive role by Patricia Haensly, in Gifted Child Today ($)

Instead of repeatedly reconfiguring what we've been doing over the past decades, looking for the waters of gifted life in old paradigms, we might seek to describe, foster, and even predict new ideas about where, when, and how giftedness can emerge more effectively in our children. Actually, some of the leaders in our field have begun to do just that...
 

Stand Up for Your Gifted Child: How to Make the Most of Kids' Strengths at School and at Home by Joan Franklin Smutny

If you think your gifted child isn't getting the education he or she needs, this book is for you. It helps you recognize your child's gifts, understand his or her problems at school, find out your district's policy on gifted education, explore various options, communicate effectively with the school and district, and provide enrichment at home
 

Strong-Willed Child or Dreamer? by Dana Scott Spears and Ron L. Braund

A sensitive dreamer if: forgets to follow instructions, no matter how clear and simple, craves praise and positive attention, yet refuses to conform to what's expected, tells more than his share of fibs and tall tales. If this is your child, you know the frustration of turning to parenting experts for advice only to find the systems don't work, the rules don't stick and strong boundary setting makes the situation worse. The creative-sensitive dreamer is not the strong-willed child...
 

Suggestions To Turn On Bright Children At Home

Common household items and simple games given a new twist often become the source for original ideas and a creative springboard for you and your child to investigate
 

SuperKids Educational Software Review

Software reviews, by kids, parents, and educators, plus bestseller list and price survey
 

The Survival Guide for Parents of Gifted Kids: How to Understand, Live With, and Stick Up for Your Gifted Child by Sally Yahnke Walker  Also available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca

The ultimate guides to surviving and thriving in a world that doesn't always value, support, or understand high ability...
 

Teaching Study Skills and Learning Strategies to Therapists, Teachers, and Tutors: How to Give Help and Hope to Disorganized Students by Diane Newton

If students are to have organization, study skills and learning strategies at the point when they need them, the skills have to be taught ahead of time. By middle school, or certainly no later than high school, students need specific instruction, demonstration, ample practice, and in many cases careful monitoring...
 

Teach Your Child to Think And Make Parenting Fun Again by Richard A. Shade & Patti Garrett

How you react to your child¹s problems is important. How you respond to and interact in general with your child is your parenting style. There is nothing *good*or *bad,* *right* or *wrong* with a parenting style. It's just that -- a style. Ask yourself: How is this approach working for me?
 

Technology Trend: Responsible Social Networking for Teens on CYFERnet

Internet users are moving from mere consumers of information to producers as well. Youth are among the first to adopt new technologies, and one of the most popular online activities is social networking. Teaching good online practices is part of parenting the online child. They may know more about technology, but you know more about life. Here are some pieces of advice...
 

Teenagers With ADD: A Parents' Guide by Chris A. Zeigler Dendy

Add to the struggle for control and confusion with emerging identity of the typical teen, the challenges difficulty focusing attention, resisting impulses, or remaining still, and you will understand the necessity of a manual for how to live and work with teens with ADD
 

Ten Tips for Raising Girls by Sylvia Rimm

help stimulate the development of girls' self-esteem and confidence...
 

Ten Tips for Talking to Teachers by Jim Delisle and Judy Galbraith

Excerpted from When Gifted Kids Don't Have All the Answers: How to Meet Their Social and Emotional Needs
 

The Top 10 Things Children Really Want Their Parents To Do With Them by Lifehack

What do you think matters most to your children?  After speaking endlessly about this topic with my students, it became clear to me that children today are involved in too many activities and are in turn becoming less in touch with themselves and their families. In addition, my students told me they really wished for more time to “just play”...
 

They Say My Kid's Gifted: Now What? by F. Richard Olenchak

A quick, easy-to-use guide for parents of gifted kids.  From identification process, to choosing a teacher, to gifted programs and curriculum...
 

Tidbits of Wisdom collected by Carolyn K.

Those little things that I wish I knew years ago!
 

Tips for selecting the right counselor or therapist for your gifted child by James T. Webb

Preventive guidance is the best policy...  But if a problem, such as anxiety, sadness, depression, or poor interpersonal relations continues for longer than a few weeks, it would be worthwhile to consider professional consultation.  So how do you find a psychologist or counselor?
 

Tips for parents of intense children by Sharon Lind

Living with emotionally intense children and partners can be turbulent, exciting, challenging, and joyful. Emotionally intense individuals are often accused of "overreacting." Their compassion and concern for others, their focus on relationships, as well as the intensity of their feelings may interfere with every day tasks. It is often quite difficult and demanding to work and live with intense individuals...
 

Understanding and Raising Boys a PBS Parents Guide

Discover how to help your boy feel confident, succeed in school, and grow up resilient and responsible.  Read it all, especially Boys in School: Is school a bad fit for boys? Learn how to help boys adjust to school and schools adjust to boys...
 

What My Daughter’s 5th Grade Teacher Taught Me About Being a Gifted Adult by Elisa of gifteduniverse.com

A teacher who changes who we are and how we look at life.  This year, my daughter was fortunate enough to have such a teacher. This man had a profound impact on my daughter.  And, by association, he also affected how I understand myself giftedness as a gifted adult...
 

Why Prodigies Fail: Talent isn't enough. Commitment, perseverance and innovation help prodigies make a lasting mark by Psychology Today staff

Betting on a prodigy is anything but a sure thing. The majority of childhood prodigies never fulfill their early promise.  No one teaches the prodigies about task commitment, about perseverance in the face of social pressures, about how to handle criticism.  Also read Gifted Kids, Harsh Truths: Being gifted isn't always a gift. And pushy parents make it worse
 

Workshops help families with gifted kids overcome isolation by Sarah Price, Education Reporter, The Sydney Morning Herald

Research has found parents of gifted children are becoming socially isolated fearing they sound boastful or arrogant if they speak about their child's ability.  Workshops for parents of gifted children in regional and remote areas alleviate this isolation...
 

Young, gifted and a right handful in the BBC News

Curse or blessing? When it comes to super-intelligent children, the jury is still out on whether they are a good or bad thing. Looking after an ordinary child is hard work enough, but having to cope with the constant questioning of a little genius can be a full-time job - which explains why some parents of gifted children take education into their own hands...
 

Your Kid is Smart by Marissa K. Lingen

Helpful hints from someone who was a gifted kid not too long ago: Accept it, Don't say it...