Author Archives: livewire

Stress

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en: Picture of a girl rubbing her temples.
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Stress is a part of life; you cannot avoid it. Life consists of change, and change results in stress. When stress is severe, we don’t function as well as we normally do. We may doubt our ability to cope with the situation at hand, or even to manage ourselves. Feelings of anxiety and discomfort arise. If we see no solutions or alternatives, we can experience a major stress reaction that inhibits our ability to function effectively. If a feeling of helplessness or hopelessness accompanies the stress, depression can result.

This is often the experience of gifted children through different stages of their lives. Although extreme stress is harmful, some stress is beneficial. Stress motivates us to do our best. We need to be challenged.

Fortunately, most gifted children begin setting challenges for themselves at an early age, although they sometimes set unrealistic standards for themselves and others. With guidance, they can learn to adjust standards to realistic levels.

Webb states, long-term studies with a wide range of people over a period of more than 50 years have documented that the way in which individual handle stress predicts whether or not they will reach their potential. In the same way that academic ability can be cultivated so can many components of resilience and stress management.

Stress can be supported with creative strategies.

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Emotional Intensity

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The intensity and sensitivity of gifted children spreads through everything they do – their everyday interactions with others, their reactions to events, and even their attitudes toward themselves. Gifted children seem to have an extra emotional sensor, or a special awareness, that picks up the slightest emotions. The attitudes and actions of others can be a major source of stress for them.  (Webb et. al, 2007)

Intensity and sensitivity are certainly assets for gifted children, but they can also be liabilities and sometimes cause emotional stress. On the positive side of sensitivity, these children often show advanced empathy and compassion.

Intensity goes with being gifted and usually includes a very active imagination.

Behaviors of gifted children are not always perceived as positive. Many of the traits of giftedness have both negative and positive aspects, depending on the situation, circumstances, or one’s point of view.

For example, the other side of high verbal ability is that the child talks or reads incessantly.

The other side of being idealistic and perfectionistic is that the child is often judgmental of others, finding hypocrisy everywhere he looks.

The other side of curiosity is that the child is forever asking questions – the the point at which adults may be annoyed and just want him to stop.

A child who questions a (teacher’s) way of doing things can simply have a curious mind and is looking for deeper answers. A child who is not willing to do things the traditional way is typically one who has divergent thinking ability and creativity. When their common traits are misunderstood, some gifted children can look extreme and negative to others.

As seen from Dabrowski’s viewpoint, these children are trying to resolve inner conflicts with what is happening in their world and what they think should be happening.

The characteristics of a gifted child cannot be removed; they are an integral part of that child. When these characteristics are criticized by others and portrayed as negative, gifted children learn to hide their giftedness, which is a great cost to the child.

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Emotional Challenges of Gifted Children

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Also important to promote creative thinking are strategies that impact the development of emotional, social and motivational skills in gifted children.

It is important to note that with children who are experiencing crises, an overall action plan is advised and professional help may be required.

What I am suggesting  here, are not interventions to use when there are severe problems, but rather, creative strategies that have an impact on the modulation of challenges with gifted children that can be integrated into the current curriculum and classroom structure.

This may sound unusual at first, to use strategies designed to enhance creativity to modulate social, emotional and motivational challenges of gifted children, but I think you will see that it makes sense.  With all the competing needs on your time, I think it is best to multi-task when you can.

Among these challenges are:  Perfectionism, Intensity, and Stress

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Reflective Skills and Mindfulness

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What would happen if teachers were aware of the scientific finding that how a person reflects internally will shape how one treats both onesself and others? If teachers became aware that attuning to the self- – being mindful – can alter the brain’s ability to create flexibility and self-observation, empathy, and morality, wouldn’t it be worth the time to teach such reflective skills first to teachers and then, in age-appropriate ways, to the students themselves?
Reflection is the skill that embeds self-knowing and empathy in the curriculum.

I wanted to introduce you to a landmark book by Dr. Daniel Siegel, who has done extensive research on the science of the brain and how greater awareness of ourselves and our relationships actually affects the functioning of our brain. It is a book for anyone wanting to develop reflective skills and includes a special section for parents, teachers and counselors. This book is an excellent resource for personal growth and professional applications.

He draws our attention to examine whether we are living mindlessly or mindfully. He states:

For some people, this “living on automatic” is a routine way of life. If our attention is on something other than what we are doing for most of our lives we can come to feel empty and numb. As automatic thinking dominates our subjective sense of the world, life becomes repetitive and dull….we come to feel dead inside.

Living on automatic also places us at risk of mindlessly reacting to situations without reflecting on various options of response. The result can often be knee-jerk reactions that in turn initiate similar mindless reflexes in others. A cascade of reinforcing mindlessness can create a world of thoughtless interactions, cruelty, and destruction.

Being mindful opens the doors not only to being aware of the moment in a fuller way, but by bringing the individual closer to a deep sense of his or her own inner world, it offers the opportunity to enhance compassion and empathy. Mindfulness is not “self-indulgent,” it is actually a set of skills that enhances the capacity for caring relationships with others.

We engage with ourselves and with others, making a more authentic connection, with more reflection and consideration. Life becomes more enriched as we are aware of the extraordinary experience of being, of being alive, of living in this moment.

Mindfulness, and the development of keener observation are the most important skills you must acquire if you are going to embark on a path of greater creativity.

Become a Role Model of Creativity

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Once you have made the decision to develop more creativity in your life, you must also realize that the most powerful way for teachers to develop creativity in children is to role model creativity.

There are many ways teachers and parents can provide an environment that fosters creativity.  Children develop creativity not when they are told to, but when they are shown how.

The teachers most people remember from their school days are not those who crammed the most content into their lectures. The teachers most people remember are those whose thoughts and actions served as a role model. Most likely they balanced teaching content with teaching children how to think with and about that content.

Share your ideas about how to model creativity by leaving a comment.