Mother Talkers

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  • been there (0 / 0)

    like meltdowns in kids who are "too old" for them.

     

    my DD is just now [going into 6th grade] learning to control her frustration when something is hard for her. She has it so easy with most things [study 10 minutes for a test and make a 96] that when she doesn't understand, it is very frustrating for her. That is exactly the thing I would expect a talented/gifted teacher to "get", but some of them don't.

    Mom of twins, DD and DS, born 12/96

    by Lisa in Austin on Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 09:04:14 PM PDT

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    • I still remember the first time.. (0 / 0)

      ..I didn't know how to do a math problem. I was 15. And it was terrifying to me - the experience is still seared into my memory. To look at this problem and not know how to do it. It had been instinctive for so long, this inherent understanding really not much different to speaking, I could just do it. But teachers really didn't know how to deal with that, and when I spoke to the teacher afterwards, he just didn't get it. Like the answer was "well, study and learn it next time." Well, sure, easy to say, but how when you've never needed to before and don't even know how to go about it?
      I suspect part of the problem is that with the gifted kids, they also learn in different ways, and finding how to create the understanding to move on can be tough.

      "You're never more alone than when you're alone in a crowd."

      by Expat Briton on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 08:58:41 AM PDT

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      • so interesting (0 / 0)

        Thanks for this insight.

        I notice a level of panic in some meltdowns I've witnessed.  I wonder if this is why -- the terror you describe.  I can imagine how hard it must be to be told to "learn" when all along you've easily intuited.

        For the parents, the meltdowns are sometimes mystifying.  Like, why was it okay for you to use the blue glass yesterday, and today when I offer it to you, you go into orbit?  My hunch has been that it has to do with order or predictability?  Or that there's some high-level patterning going on, and the blue glass suddenly violates that?  It seems that the world is being processed in a different way and maybe what's behind some of the frustration is the sense that the rest of us aren't getting it -- which could also be pretty scary for a kid.  Which makes me wonder if it's easier for a gifted parent to raise a gifted kid?

        Mama to one son, born 12/93.

        by mamacita on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:46:01 AM PDT

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      • first (and only) time (0 / 0)

        I failed a test. 7th grade. I had been sick, I didn't realize how much information I actual did learn from being in class and like a dummy I thought I could take it and be fine., since i never studied anyway. I FAILED. and I. freaked. I broke down, almost hysterical screaming crying, begging to take it over, just all over the place and I still remember the horrified look my "honors" teacher gave me as she stepped over me and scurried out of the room, like i was some crazy thing to sweep away. I picked myself up and left and took the F. Ugh

        by lilianna28 on Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 09:56:56 AM PDT

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