Accentuate the Positive

In the past few days, I have been hearing a lot about being positive. To be honest … I oftentimes struggle with this in regard to education and in particular the education of highly-abled or gifted kids. It’s easy to see all the negative aspects ~ such as how society views our children ~ when examples seem to be staring us in the face almost daily.

That being said … it is extremely important as the parent of a gifted child to do our best to be positive for their sake; especially when they are young. They are attuned to our every word and gesture … and like it or not … we are their first role model. Due to their asynchronous development, we too often forget that their emotional response to other’s feelings can make it difficult for them to respond to negativity in an appropriate manner.

As parents and adults who work with gifted children, we need to enable our kids to ~ as the hit song from the 1940’s reminds us and covered by Paul McCartney below ~ ♪♫♪ “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” ♪♫♪. They will have plenty of time for negativity when they grow up.

A blog post from Krissy Venosdale, ‘’, hit all the right notes for me. It made me think that we must do the same as parents … turn obstacles into opportunities. I’m not saying that this is a simple task because it isn’t.

When your child comes home from school and tells you they were bored or from the local playground and tells you they were bullied, meet their concerns with a measured response. Don’t over-react or use profanity. Talk to them about how other people’s actions make them feel and ways they could respond. Use it as a learning experience by asking them to consider how their own words and actions make other children feel. You’ll be surprised at how well they perceive the situation. In doing so, you are respecting both their intellect and maturity level.

I don’t make any promises that this will change your life or that of your child’s life. I don’t think you can use positive thinking to affect human nature. What I am saying is that having a positive outlook on life is an important part of growing up and the basis for improving social interaction. When things don’t go their way, they should move on and explore alternatives. Accentuate the positive!

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Socialization and the Gifted Child

"Even though your experience is not exactly the same as mine, I feel far less alone if I know that you have had experiences that are reasonably similar."

~ James T. Webb

Providing your gifted child with opportunities to socialize with their peers is an important part of their development. It is easy to forget when so much emphasis is placed on academics and/or talent development.

Socialization can take place anywhere, but it can be difficult for some gifted children. An obvious place where you hope peer interaction is occurring is at school. There are many potential opportunities here if school personnel realize its importance and work to make it happen. Parents’ influence is limited to what is offered by the school.

Some of the possibilities include ability or cluster grouping, pull-out programs, regrouping within the regular classroom for differentiation, and like-grouping in performing groups such as band, chorus, or dance. It is best if this can happen on a daily basis.

Parents can also provide opportunities outside of school in a multitude of ways. Art, music, and dance classes are good places to start for children interested in the arts. Many universities offer summer academic camps, both day camps and residential. Museums and science centers in major cities also offer camp experiences. Parent support groups often set up activities on the weekends. Academic competitions such as Academic Games, Destination Imagination, Invention Convention, Odyssey of the Mind, and chess clubs also provide places for kids to interact.

Outside the U.S., additional opportunities exist in the form of social gifted centers where student can work on special projects, attend movie nights, and engage in reading clubs. Gifted students often express how much more comfortable they are when interacting with their peers.

Bavarian Centre for Gifted and Talented Children



Sutherland, Australia



Gifted educator, lecturer, and author Dr. Karen Rogers has estimated that this type of social interaction can increase academic achievement by 2 ½ to 4 ½ months every school year.

Every parent wants their child to be happy. Friends are not an assurance of happiness, but many would agree that true “peer” association for the gifted child can be a source of inspiration and camaraderie.



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