Living With Live Wires

Sometimes, whether we want it to or not, raising bright kids can completely challenge and change everything we have been conditioned to think about how people learn, what is involved in a good education, and how to raise children prepared for their future.

During the process of educating gifted children one can gain insights about oneself, how we were raised, and how society and our culture pressures us to think, feel, and act. Sometimes we get stuck in the path of mediocrity and buy into society’s expectations without even knowing we are doing it. We listen to others, become compliant and get brainwashed without even giving our informed consent.

We are constantly being told that our kids need to be made into the image society expects. But as many of us have learned, we have to find the courage to find our own path and define for ourselves what will be best for our children.

This becomes a tremendous task of research, study, experimentation and reflection. When our children have special needs that require us to customize their education, the task becomes daunting.

But, this is the path that we have chosen. And, we will continue to persevere, experimenting and reflecting on what to do at each stage.

And, in this process, we change, grow and evolve into more thoughtful, insightful, and hopefully, more compassionate parents. Our families are irrevocably changed and we have a chance to question the beliefs, traditions and social pressures that impact our lives each day. We have the chance to question their validity in our own lives and to create a way of life that is of our own choosing; to live more consciously in the way our hearts and minds lead us.

We have amazing children who have arrived in our lives. And, as we help them, they help us break out of our mold of habitual thinking. They are set on following their own path and in the process they will teach us to do the same.

[excerpt from my Minnesota Council for the Gifted and Talented State Conference presentation: Don't Fence Me In - Mastery, Creativity, and Adventure in the Home Education of Bright Children]