The other day I was having a conversation with a friend about our kids. He told me that when his daughter was a baby she was extremely advanced for her age but his son didn't have similar abilities at the same age. After expressing my admiration of his daughter's skills he quickly told me that she was no longer advanced. He explained that he was thankful she grew out of it because if she continued that way she wouldn't have any friends since nobody likes a show off. I was quite intrigued by his comment because I had never looked at things that way. I discussed our conversation with my mum and asked her what she would prefer a super smart child or a child with a lot of friends, she said she would definitely prefer her child to be super smart. Although I agree with my mum I can see where my friend was coming from because some people use their advanced abilities to make other people feel small.
From the ages of 3-5 I went to a Catholic school where we were taught to read and write at a young age. When I started a non-Catholic school at the age of 5, I noticed that most of my class mates couldn't spell very well. I was eager for my friends to spell as well as me so I would quickly finish my writing tasks so I could help them with words that they were unsure of. The teacher didn't mind because she didn't have time to get around the whole class to help everyone. My spelling abilities didn't stop people wanting to be my friend because I didn't make them feel bad for not being able to spell the words that I could spell. I stayed at that school for about 18 months and then I started a new Catholic school when I was 7. Not long after starting the new school I realised that I was behind in Maths. Other students in my class knew how to do their times tables but I hadn't been taught multiplication in any of my previous schools. Looking back, the fact that I was no longer the best in class was a good thing because it ensured that I didn't turn into a know-it-all.
Sometimes when people are skilled in a particular area they become conceited and arrogant believing that they can get away with being rude to others. People around them start to hope they'll slip up so they can be taken down a peg or two. As parents it's up to us to teach our children how to be humble because it might not come naturally for some personality types. We shouldn't encourage our children to dim their light just because it's shining too brightly for the people around them. This might involve putting the child into a school for gifted children if possible. This way they will be around children who challenge them motivating them to achieve their full potential. If someone doesn't want to be friends with your child because he or she is gifted it's their loss. Your children don't need envious people in their lives anyway.
