During a visit to Laguna Beach tide pools, a parent describes discovering a lone fish then a school of fish, which inspired her son to write a spontaneous short story. The post encourages parents to expose children to new experiences, as inspiration can arise unexpectedly and foster creativity.
Tips for parents of gifted children who struggle socially, explaining that boredom and mismatched curriculum can cause disruptive behavior and social challenges. Offers five practical strategies — building problem-solving and independence, role-playing, using code words, reviewing friendship dynamics, and monitoring behavior — to foster social skills and confidence.
This article explores how the COVID-19 pandemic shifted schooling to the home, urging families to establish routines, clear expectations, mentorship, supervision, and positivity. It offers practical tips for supporting children, managing technology use, fostering exercise and connection, and highlights historical creative achievements during quarantines.
Mark Hess argues gifted boys often experience intense empathy and sensitivity that, when guided, can develop into meaningful leadership. Using classroom examples, he suggests social-emotional lessons delivered in boy-friendly ways help boys belong, practice compassion, and redefine toughness as emotional courage and kindness.
This post reviews research linking heavy smartphone and social media use to attentional disruption, reduced cognitive capacity, impaired learning, and increased anxiety, depression and envy. It explains the ‘brain drain’ effect and offers practical guidelines—like reducing screen time and phone-free periods—to improve attention and well-being.
Teacher describes a de-escalation approach for gifted children using a “new thinking” strategy. In an example, a student devastated for missing math competition is heard, validated, and guided to reframe the situation, rehearse skills, and plan support. The goal is helping students process emotions and develop lasting self-regulation.
A personal essay tracing introversion from childhood to adulthood. The author describes retreating into imagination, feeling misunderstood in school, and later finding community through writing. Over time shyness becomes a source of strength as quiet friendships and shared creative rituals reveal belonging and pride in being introverted.
Tracy Riley recalls being identified as gifted, reconnecting with a like-minded friend over Monarch butterflies, and exploring how like-minded peers influence gifted learners’ thinking. She discusses student descriptions of shared thinking, shares research and SENG involvement, and seeks to foster connections and resources for gifted education.
Gifted students often experience intense, persistent thoughts and heightened curiosity that can lead to frustration or misunderstanding. This article presents life lessons—persevere through setbacks, value creativity, continue learning, collaborate to improve fairness, and use strengths to manage challenges—to help gifted learners positively interpret difficult experiences.
Advice for parents and educators to guide gifted children’s internet use, balancing monitoring with teaching digital citizenship, privacy and trust. Discuss age-appropriate access, classroom modeling, and tools (filters, monitoring software, educational platforms). Emphasizes family-school partnership to build safe, responsible global learners.
