A ghost is haunting Germany's students and their parents; that of giftedness. Suddenly almost all children are "gifted". The background to the mass spook: a few years ago science discovered giftedness, which was long misunderstood, unexplored, and almost frowned upon. Now many parents use it for their own purposes.
Anyone who previously referred to the offspring's intelligence was considered conceited. It's good that so much more is known about the exciting phenomenon and the consequences of those actually affected by it (see last page). It is a bad thing that it has now generally become a popular phenomenon among ambitious parents: It is now practically good form to have a "gifted" child. At least in certain circles. Namely, where the Abitur of their child is a matter of course for fathers and mothers (and today at least 60 percent of all parents of Abc shooters assume that their offspring will get the Abitur).
Alone among child prodigies
Mothers and fathers now stand there pretty lonely, who do not consider their offspring to be a genius – but simply a clever little head. But it gets really annoying when, as the mother of a "normally" gifted child, you insist that the standard rules of social interaction are observed in class. "Would you tell your son not to always spit on my little one's lunch?" I ask a co-mother from the second grade with a friendly smile. "Unfortunately that is not in my power!" sighs the woman with undisguised pride in her eyes. And beckons me close to tell me in a whisper: "He is gifted … I can't get to him."
Are little bullies always gifted?
I hear this argument from many, many parents over the next few years. Unfortunately, your children have to bother you, cannot be prevented from being beaten, have the urge to intrigue, laugh at others, smack your lips or get bad grades … because they are gifted (optionally they suffer from ADHD, unrecognized dyslexia or dyscalculia). It always says: "Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it!". And sometimes I am viewed very condescendingly. How can I believe that gifted children can learn rules and that bad behavior is simply due to wrong upbringing? I wouldn't care about anything; but not that my child has to suffer from the mini-bullies. Experts and psychologists are currently experiencing that around half of the parents of children with behavioral problems come to the counseling practice with the assumption that their offspring are just a little genius. This is always easier than admitting educational failure to oneself or facing the fact that the offspring suffers from the separation of their parents or other problems in the family. Understandable, human, but usually wrong.
Good behavior can also be smart
One of the main findings of scientific research on the topic: only ten to fifteen percent of gifted boys and girls (giftedness is distributed equally across the sexes) actually attract attention because of their behavior or poor performance – as long as nobody recognizes their talent. But since only two percent of all children are gifted, that actually makes up an almost negligible number of highly gifted pupils – in view of the mass indecency at schools, which is often excused with special talents. The conclusion of the research: giftedness is not typically noticeable through rowdy or ruthlessness.
Giftedness: How you can really recognize it
There are other signs of the very special talent. They can occur, but do not have to be. In the accumulation, however, they give an important indication of genuine giftedness.
- Gifted children often fail with simple tasks, appear bored with routine tasks, and only get going with difficult tasks
- You have a high level of social sensitivity and are extremely sensitive to interpersonal relationships
- They often have interests that are not typical of their age, for example for "adult issues" (religion, politics, etc.)
- The gifted have excellent memories and often early reading and numeracy skills
- They start speaking early, often skipping baby language
- They often show a strong interest in symbols such as car brands, company logos, and then letters and numbers
- You have a low need for sleep
- You ask a lot in an attempt to understand the environment
- Gifted children have good logical thinking skills
- You have a high level of abstraction
- You work independently and also like to strive for perfection independently of others
- They usually work at a high pace
- They appear very self-critical about their performance, do not give up easily
- You are characterized by good linguistic ability to express yourself and you have a large vocabulary
- They show a strong sense of justice and question the decisions of "authorities". But if they have seen the point of this decision, they sometimes follow it more than 100 percent
- You stand out with a strong imagination
- They prefer to talk to older people than to their peers.
- Gifted boys and girls often have older friends
- You would like to be the "determiner" and try to take command
- They often do not enjoy the usual "age-appropriate" leisure activities
- They often feel isolated from the outside world.
This article originally appeared on Eltern.de.