Is Your Kid Gifted? Probably Not
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ChiefKiasu:
Sometimes i really wonder if the 'freedom of speech' (not like olden days where kids are supposed to be seen and not heard) allowable at home is really a good idea.
Guess your kid really likes to win :lol: . -
One of the things I feel very honoured about KiasuParents.com is how we have managed to bring together some of the brightest parents in Singapore to discuss parenting issues. If you go through the posts, you will find that the proportion of very insightful postings is uncommonly high compared to what you will find in other forums. Somehow, we have attracted very smart people to our portal.
In any such meetings of great minds, there will always be different points of view which are passionately argued by all sides. The airing of views from different angles allow completeness in the treatment of each subject that we bring up; and it is only by listening to all sides that we can derive deep understanding of the issues involved.
This is not about the freedom of speech - a term which I think is meaningless in today’s environment. Even in the US, it is politically incorrect to call a black a "black". You must say "African American". Those who say "black" are frowned upon.
This is about openess, tolerance and purpose. As long as there is no overt malice, we must learn to pay attention to what each other are saying, and agree to disagree if there are misalignments in views. We must not lose sight of our objective, which is the hope that through such interactions, we can become better parents to our young children. -
Hi Jedamum,
I see what you mean. Sorry lah - didn't want to talk too much about my son before, but he does things that are amazing to me. [WARNING, bragging coming up :oops:]. He read at 2 plus - like the whole Richard Scarry Best Nursery Rhyme book first, and then it continued. When I taught him phonics, his reading just suddenly gapped up literally from one week to the next. Then it was road signs - he was quite crazy about it wherever we went. The other day, he told me - \"if I'm an ant on a globe (we have one in his room) the world will seem 2D. But I can see outside that, so things look 3D to me\". And this obsession with number patterns. Frankly, I don't even know how to dream these things up or how to teach it. The thinking is different, definitely. So, yeah, I agree with you - it's untrainable. Sometimes, he's downright intolerable too - so lawa! :lol: But it isn't like life is a bed of roses, he's got a lot of challenges. Mainly, he's too sly for his own good and he overthinks, so things get blown out of proportion.
Aiya, meant to make this into a thread about positive parenting. Didn't mean to stray into topics of giftedness :oops: -
Hi All,
The article (ok, tongue in cheek title!) set me thinking - I don't know if people are measurably smarter than they were a decade ago. If you check something called the Flynn Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn_effectt, IQ scores have been climbing, but certainly not the extent that will cause the number of graduates to explode like it has (this is all anecdotal evidence only) in the last decade. My thinking is that perhaps, it is income levels rising, so we have more to spend on preparing our kids. But then, where's the differentiation out there when everyone is so smart? Maybe therefore, being gifted doesn't quite matter ... [The difficulty is in engaging them so that they even want to go to school, but that's the other thread
]
So perhaps we should go back to basics, like the article suggests, and develop a deep bond with our children. I haven't been a proponent of flash cards because of my own experience. But I realize (thanks to this forum!) that other people find it very effective - this in itself justifies the method, because it creates a happy bond between parent and child. Whatever method we use as a basis of interaction with our kids, so long as they are happy and well adjusted, they're better able to learn and to find their own passion in life.
Hope I'm making sense at 1.40 in the morning ... :lol: -
ChiefKiasu:
wah....so gifted EQ speech.......I ilke!!One of the things I feel very honoured about KiasuParents.com is how we have managed to bring together some of the brightest parents in Singapore to discuss parenting issues. If you go through the posts, you will find that the proportion of very insightful postings is uncommonly high compared to what you will find in other forums. Somehow, we have attracted very smart people to our portal.
In any such meetings of great minds, there will always be different points of view which are passionately argued by all sides. The airing of views from different angles allow completeness in the treatment of each subject that we bring up; and it is only by listening to all sides that we can derive deep understanding of the issues involved.
This is not about the freedom of speech - a term which I think is meaningless in today's environment. Even in the US, it is politically incorrect to call a black a \"black\". You must say \"African American\". Those who say \"black\" are frowned upon.
This is about openess, tolerance and purpose. As long as there is no overt malice, we must learn to pay attention to what each other are saying, and agree to disagree if there are misalignments in views. We must not lose sight of our objective, which is the hope that through such interactions, we can become better parents to our young children.
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breguet:
He read at 2 plus
I am not surprised that your boy may be quite advanced in the linguistics department cos I 'felt' (from your other postings in some threads) that you are pretty good in the English Department as well.
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jedamum:
Whoa Jedamum! Don't get me started on my collar again!breguet:
He read at 2 plus
I am not surprised that your boy may be quite advanced in the linguistics department cos I 'felt' (from your other postings in some threads) that you are pretty good in the English Department as well.
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breguet:
I couldn't agree more. One thing for sure, my kids are just average school going kids. As long as they are happy, well brought up and continuously learning positively all the time (we all are), I'm quite content with it....But then, where's the differentiation out there when everyone is so smart? Maybe therefore, being gifted doesn't quite matter ...
... Whatever method we use as a basis of interaction with our kids, so long as they are happy and well adjusted, they're better able to learn and to find their own passion in life. -
It will be a surprise to all that gifted kids may not come from a stereotyped middleclass background. Let me site two examples:
Profile 1: an ex-classmate of mine, is gifted, top the school exams every year, her profile?
-Dad was murdered when she was a child
-Stays in a 3 room flat, leaving mum taking care of her and brother.
-She could still watch TV today and tomorrow pass exam with flying colors, as I remembered in our old school days.
-came from neighborhood school
-Superb memory
-She top every tests, and exams. All A1s.
-Brother is not gifted
-As I’ve lost contact with her, the last I heard is she is still single.
-A very happy go lucky friend as I remembered her in school days.
Profile 2: a Gifted old friend
-Gambler dad died of illness young
-Hawker mum brought up both brother and sister
-Sister is not gifted, on the contrary, slightly slow
-came from neighborhood school
- Since young the gifted brother loves to take things apart and then amazingly fix things back. Besides that, he love to do things "differently", eg very naughty, drawing on walls since young…etc…
-He is a President’s Scholar and no one knew until one of my other friend revealed.
-He is happily married and now a professor in NUS
-Both are very humble couple
Sorry if this is off topic…But I thought I should share… -
a relative of mine was never in any gifted programme
although he is always one of the top students in class & a fast learner
he suprised his peers when he graduated with 1st class honours from NTU
even got a scholarship to study Masters in UK
GEP didn’t pick him up.
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