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Do Gifted Children Deserve Gifted Parents?

© Peggy Kord

“The best hope a gifted child has is for an informed parent – to pave the way, prepare his expectations, enrich his surroundings, bridge gaps, open doors, leap obstacles, build confidence, and produce change where it is needed” (Smutny, J., Veenker, K., & Veenker, S.).

Yes! Get out your cape and make sure the “SGP” (super gifted parent) is in plain sight. Of course,parent I am kidding!? Parenting is a process of trial and error. Books on the subject have been and will continue to be best sellers. Advice abounds in magazines, newspapers, TV talk shows, and from other parents. New parents already have a knowledge base founded on personal experiences and those they have witnessed. They are able to cope with parenthood because they have an idea of how to guide, nurture, and act as an advocate for their child. Parents of an exceptional child are not as well prepared for this role and are in need of special help, information, advice and support. Schools, despite a basic concern for gifted children, are not likely to provide all of the help or advice parents of exceptional children need. Perhaps no other group of parents has been so neglected by educators, or misunderstood by the general public. Pushy parent is the term generally given them.

Parents must become facilitators for their gifted child. They should be aware of their role as a guide. As the child advances, there will be many decisions to be made. A parent must know and understand the term giftedness and the implications that it holds for his child. Characteristics and behaviors pertaining to her child should be studied. Identification procedures should be understood and his role in preschool identification be realized. A comprehensive as well as a current view of gifted will enable concerned parents to better assume their role.

Exactly what does giftedness mean? There are more than one hundred definitions of gifted because experts can not agree on one. Researchers contend that, for whatever purpose, giftedness can’t be accurately defined in a single definition, because all gifted do not demonstrate the same traits. Sounds like a disease!

A writer named Yatvin offered the following explanation of giftedness to an audience of parents, “Gifted children, lead, dare, innovate, dream, and solve problems. They sell lemonade, form clubs, make things out of junk, read comic books and Shakespeare, invent games, take apart their bicycles, enter contests…and get erratic grades, make fantasy lands out of their bedrooms, and avoid adult dominated activities, …choosing what they will learn in order to perform worthwhile tasks, solve problems and discover meaning, order, and beauty.”