Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Way above average

This morning I had Samuel's preschool conference. It's kind of silly to have a conference at this age but I was a bit curious to see his progress. Nothing surprised me. She told me basically what I know. My kid is bright and will cause trouble if he's bored. Keep him busy, and he'll be fine. I can hear this echoing in my ears for the next how many years? Twelve or so? She gave me a checklist of what they should know by the time they start kindergarten. He has achieved them all. He gets things very quickly and has to wait around for the other kids to catch up. She said that he would most likely be labeled gifted in first grade and this should help with the boredom. She didn't mention any focus or attention issues. I'm sure this problem will arise if he doesn't like an activity or he's bored.

I'm a little afraid of the "bright" syndrome. When a kid hears this too much, it almost seems that they don't want to live up to it. Maybe they feel too much pressure to continue being bright and performing on a very high level. I can already see Samuel giving up if he thinks he might fail at something or he asks me to go away so if he does fail, I don't see him do it.

I always hoped and prayed for an above average kid. Not that there is anything wrong with an average kid but it's a little more fun to interact with an above average one. Having a way above average kid is a challenge. He'll always be a little different. He won't blend into the crowd. He's much harder to parent. I hope that both George and I are up for the challenge.

His teacher did say that he'll make a lot of money one day. Maybe that's part of the way above average bargain.

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