Parents: Is your child a Wunderkind?

[jedicord]

It seems that everyone I know with a kid has the absolutely most amazing child ever born. They're either the best on their sports team, the smartest student in school, best in drama, whatever. There are no average children in my area!

Well, except my 11 year old son (who I think is above average in a lot of things, but he doesn't excel in anything concrete). He plays baseball well, but doesn't take it seriously, won't play any more. Makes average grades, depending on his mood. He is pretty good at video games and drawing robots, but nothing to alert the media about.

Is my son the only average kid?

[daveskilt]

1. of course my daughter is a genius - just look at her

[JVS]

3. That's awesome!

[cmf]

6. *ROFL*

that's so cute!

[jedicord]

11. She's a doll!

Reminds my of the movie "Parenthood". While I was pregnant, I told my husband I wanted our child to be like Justin, the little boy who would bang his head into walls, spin around 'til he got dizzy, etc.

I got my wish in buckets!

[Fleshdancer]

15. That's the funniest, cutest thing I've ever seen

so was there a red ring around her face when she got up?

[daveskilt]

16. she didnt sleep in it - she tried to pick it up with her 3 teeth

we have pictures of her in the fireplace, in the dishwasher, stuck in the fridge with the door mostly closed and her leg sticking out etc

but I do think, in my very biased view, she is a smart kid :)

[Fleshdancer]

18. my daughter likes to crawl into our dog's crate

It confuses the dog.

[JVS]

2. I'm suspicious of those parents who act like they have...

"the absolutely most amazing child ever born"

They're just fronting.

[tigereye]

5. well that's just all the hormones talking

and baby luv vibes. When you have them, they do seem amazing and perfect and beautiful. There is something in nature that just makes us revere their every action, including excretory functions, at least when they are little. Can't explain it, guess it just helps us make sure they survive to adulthood. And no, they are not all going to Harvard.

[jedicord]

10. Sure, all babies are the best baby ever!

I'm talking parents with kids around my son's age or older. I'm also amazed at the time and money spent on their kid's sports/talent training. Some of these kids work so hard at their sport, that there's no time for personal plain old fun. It's as if "who has the biggest house" has become "who has the best kid".

I personally would like for my son to be happy. My parents persauded me not to major in music (I wanted to be a lab musician), because I wouldn't make much money at it. So I got into advertising, worked in it for about 10 years and hated it hated it hated it the whole time. Money was good, but I was miserable. Now I'm a "glorified secretary", making average cash, and happy as a clam.

With that in mind, whenever my son becomes interested in something, I help get him involved. When he loses interest, we go on to the next thing. Right now he's into bowling. Is that a bad thing?

[tigereye]

12. no I think you need to let them be kids

and be themselves. I don't believe in this endless enrichment, competitive, over-scheduled thing. And I have had/ am having my life, his will be his own.

[rangerfan]

4. My oldest is a wunderkind. He can already read and write plus

add and subtract, pretty good for being a 33 year old.

[TNDemo]

7. God must have loved the common man because he made

so many of them. At least that's what my husband says.

[Sweet Freedom]

8. My friends and I laugh

about another mother that we know. Her kid is the ultimate brat, but she calls him her "masterpiece". :puke:

[JVS]

9. A real piece of work at least

[bullimiami]

13. mine is a lazykund

iq test says pretty near genius. a LITTLE effort to go along with the brains might help though.

[jedicord]

14. Mine too!

His brain is like a steel trap for anything that interests him. But try to teach him something he's not interested in, and he becomes brain dead. Won't read fiction because it's "stupid" (although fiction is becoming more interesting to him as he gets older, since it's no longer "Sally goes to the mailbox and gets a package".

[daveskilt]

17. the smartest kids I know are not mine - great smart kid story

So our friend who is getting a phd in literature has a 4 year old who got very bored in a long car ride - her parents were talking and she was not in on the conversation so she yells out "you're talking my head off you're talking my head off"
her mom says "now thats just silly your head will not come off if we talk all day"
she rolls her 4 year old eyes and says "mother - it was only a metaphor"


Or my 5 year old cousin who has a scottish mother and a french father and lives half the year in each country - always claims not to speak the language of the country he is in when the teacher calls the end of recess. It usually works for a few days until the new teacher calls to ask if he can speak french/english

[SarahB]

19. I do have amazingly smart kids, but....

Like their mother, they can be rather analytical, hyper and not sleep enough. So far, the older two have been identified as "gifted". They are competitive with each other and get bored because there are fewer "smart kids" around to fit in with. It's no bed of roses either. Sometimes, in fact, it can be a little demanding to say the least.