If you are employing a tutor or sending your child to a summer school, they might well have additional ideas. However lucky you feel, you might still find yourself struggling – and under those circumstances, it’s OK to see where you can get help. Having a gifted child is usually easier than most other special educational needs but as we discussed above, that’s not to say that it’s easy. Remember that being gifted is in many countries considered a ‘special education need’, just as being autistic or having learning difficulties might be. Get help if you need it You may find that other families with gifted children are a great place to start. Membership of groups such as Young Mensa may also be worth considering. It might mean sending them to a summer school course in order that they can not only receive lessons pitched nearer to the level of their abilities, but also socialise with peers at a similar level to them. It might mean hiring a tutor to provide them with lessons that stretch them more than those they are given at school, or to teach them subjects that they wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to study. It could also be a bit more complicated or expensive than this. Visits to museums will keep your child’s mind active, even during weekends or school holidays. It may mean the museum visits or talks that you would consider to encourage any child’s interests, but at a higher intellectual level than you might naturally choose. It may mean peace and quiet to get on with their studies or to take a break from working hard. In many cases, it can simply mean a bit more independence, such as a library card and the freedom to read whatever they like (and if that means twenty books on the same niche subject in a row, so be it). ![]() This is something that you would do for any child, regardless of their level of ability, but for gifted children it can take a bit more thought. For another, few people’s enjoyment in life comes solely from the activities that they are outstanding at it’s good to know that you can have fun at something even if you’ll never be the best at it, and this can be a message that gifted children miss out on. But gifted children – especially those who are not only academically talented, but also skilled in another area, such as music or sport – need activities in which they are under less pressure to succeed, and where they might experience failure.įor one thing, if they don’t have these opportunities, when they do eventually encounter other things in life where they can’t succeed easily (when they go to university is often the time when this kicks in), they will find it much more disheartening. After a certain age, you naturally encourage them towards the things they’re good at, and away from the things they’re not, and that’s perfectly fine for most people. This approach can spill over into the way we approach people’s hobbies and children’s especially. It is especially important for gifted children to be able to have fun outside of their usual comfort zone. No one would ever question the idea that someone might enjoy a game of football at the weekends even if they’re never going to be a professional-standard player, but there’s something unusual about a person who writes endless novels that they know will never be good enough to be published. ![]() In general, as a society, we unconsciously categorise activities into those it’s OK to be bad at, and those it’s not. It doesn’t come naturally to us – especially if we have other children who are less gifted – to encourage our child to do things they’re bad at. This is probably the advice given most frequently to parents of gifted children, and yet, it can be among the hardest tips to follow. Encourage them to do things they’re bad at In this article, we take a look at what you can do to ensure that your gifted child is supported, encouraged, and above all, happy. Additionally, a lot of resources for parents of gifted children focus on the early learning stages, and don’t provide much help on continuing to support them as older children and teenagers. Raising a gifted child can feel like a lot of responsibility supporting them, and ensuring that they reach their full potential, can be harder when they have a lot more potential than most children to reach! Other challenges might include them becoming bored more easily than their peers, and fast outgrowing your resources to support them in their learning.
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