"Help - my child is gifted!"
Aug. 16th, 2013 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philmophlegmYesterday I had a meeting with a teacher from a local school* about the possibility of us doing some skills courses for pupils there - presentation skills, leadership, teambuilding, interview skills, making an impact - that sort of thing.
One of the ideas he threw at me at the end of the meeting (I think he thought of it there and then) was courses for parents, specifically parents of 'G&Ts'. In education-speak, G&Ts are Gifted & Talented children - gifted academically or talented musically, artistically or athletically. This teacher is Head of G&T at his school and he wondered if parents of G&T children would benefit from some advice on how to be the best parents they could to a G&T child.
There's plenty of this sort of advice on the internet. But since many of the people reading this were probably G&T children, I would be interested in hearing what did or didn't work for you. What did your parents do to help you? Did it work? Or was it counter-productive? I would be especially interested if, like me, you were G&T (I was G, I'm definitely not remotely T) but your parents weren't (mine have two O-levels between them). I'd also be interested in hearing from teachers and academics dealing with G&T students. And finally, I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of any parents who have G&T children.
* Non-selective state secondary. This one in fact.
One of the ideas he threw at me at the end of the meeting (I think he thought of it there and then) was courses for parents, specifically parents of 'G&Ts'. In education-speak, G&Ts are Gifted & Talented children - gifted academically or talented musically, artistically or athletically. This teacher is Head of G&T at his school and he wondered if parents of G&T children would benefit from some advice on how to be the best parents they could to a G&T child.
There's plenty of this sort of advice on the internet. But since many of the people reading this were probably G&T children, I would be interested in hearing what did or didn't work for you. What did your parents do to help you? Did it work? Or was it counter-productive? I would be especially interested if, like me, you were G&T (I was G, I'm definitely not remotely T) but your parents weren't (mine have two O-levels between them). I'd also be interested in hearing from teachers and academics dealing with G&T students. And finally, I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of any parents who have G&T children.
* Non-selective state secondary. This one in fact.
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no subject
Date: 2013-08-19 01:01 pm (UTC)They were totally supportive of their cuckoo kid, and followed the advice they got from the school. Which led to a certain amount of misery on my part, mostly through being enrolled in the National Association for Gifted Children. Not that the NAGC was badly intentioned, just that it was run for and by middle class parents and kids, and had no cultural cross over with a scruff from a comprehensive in the slums.
My take away from that is not to put your child in an uncomfortable social setting - they'll already feel isolated and alienated enough, and will do till they hit a wider range of people in a less threatening environment (University, in my case).
My best advice is probably antiquated - give them your library ticket and a bike to get to the local library. I guess the internet means that those books can come to them. But get them the bike anyway.