The early years of parenting gifted kids can be tough. You’re probably sleep-deprived, frazzled, questioning your parenting skills, asynchrony is in full force, and all around you, people are telling you to “enjoy every moment” and to “let them be little”.
Meanwhile, you’re wondering what in the world you’re going to do with a 4 year old who reads a math dictionary for fun while his friends are playing pirates and house.
Tag: parenting
Like Father, Like Son – Giftedness across the Generations
The funny thing is – for parents who grew up without a “gifted” label, this behavior is normal. It’s normal because it was their experience. It’s normal to be ultra-sensitive to sound or smells, normal to feel bored and disconnected in school, normal to be clumsy or sensory seeking, normal for academics to come easy but the social stuff to be hard. And that causes us to doubt our own kids, to minimize their struggles, because we were the same and made it through.
Asynchrony Day 2 – it’s not your fault
Asynchrony is a description, not a diagnosis. It describes these kids with intense internal drives to understand more, do more, know more, and how they interact with the world around them.
Lessons in Adulting
It’s easy to model concrete skills: how to peel a carrot, how to wash a window, how to sort the laundry. These activities break down into simple, observable steps that can be easily verbalized.
This year, I’ve realized that I need to be much more intentional in modeling those oh-so-important skills that are less concrete.
Infant Sleep – the experts never met your baby
Truth be told, the majority of babies who are given even moderate support (healthy habits) from their caregivers develop pretty good sleep rhythms, and then there are the outliers. The colicky babies. The reflux queens. The never sleepers. The endless nursers. The must-be-held-ers.
They’re hard.
No, we can’t have a beach day. And that’s ok.
We spent 2 wonderful hours at the beach this morning. It was beautiful. The kids did really well. And after two hours? It was enough. Time to pack up our stuff and hightail it outta there. Over the years, living with multiple children with over-active sensory responses and heightened anxieties, I’ve developed a sense myself…
Wonderschooling 