Euphoria and the Hangover
Well, I can't pass this one up. After a long career in the classroom (California) and many years as the teacher of gifted children, I fully realize the joy of discovering children with incredible abilities. It can be intoxicating for parents.(...who might I add, didn't create the child) who just as easily could have had a child of average intelligence or below. Like all highs, this Genius Intoxicant can cause a really bad hangover.
After reading her website I found that familiar knot in my stomach returning. THE MARKETING!!! Oh my! She is 10 years old...TEN YEARS OLD! Very often, families of gifted children forget all about the fact that the child IS A CHILD with experiences available only to a 10 year life span. So much is necessary for children - whatever their intelligence quotient is - to grow into a balanced, whole person, that to expose a child to the public and set her work up for critique the way the website does, is quite saddening to me. To paraphrase Linda and Chris, she is just a child with children's needs who happens to have some special skills. Putting her work out into the public arena invites comparisons in the same way that putting children in beauty pagents does. UGH! Opinions are part of that very format. A ten year old needs nurturing, protecting and guiding and loving. It's not loving to place her in that kind of position. Oh, well, I guess I still have a few Back-to- School Night talks left in me. Darn.
Carol Norton
|
Threaded Mode
