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Intelligence
 Intelligence and the child
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Nurture
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Genius factory
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Kindergarten
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Pre-school
Prenatal development
Infanthood
Stimulation
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| Kidergarten |
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The best parent in the world cannot provide the magical stimulus given by the company of other children in a social environment. This is not only a useful preparation for the group context of all formal education, it is a lot of fun. Adults provide wonderful entrees to worlds of literature, art and music, but the day is probably made by being offered a turn on the swing by 'my friend'. Social understandings require intelligence, sensitivity and imagination, and can be learned playing in the park or backyard with friends. It is too easy to dismiss these activities as non-intellectual.
Choose what you see as best for your child and family, but don't let kindergarten become a substitute for home. Watch how comfortable your child feels. Note if he/she is excited about pre-school and looks forward to going. These are good indications, as is talk about friends and activities.
Kindergarten can be especially valuable, providing familiarity with the pleasures and 'rules' of social interaction that may not be available at home. Another advantage is that kindergarten give children experiences that can be talked about later. In trying to share them with the rest of the family, their efforts to describe what went on at pre-school that morning call upon and extend their language resources. Listen to what your child is trying to explain or describe, and pose questions that will make him/her think a little more.
Talk to the staff about what your child does at home. Anything that interests, puzzles or disturbs is useful information for the staff. A two-way exchange of information can develop if they tell you of similar things at pre-school. They are seeing your child in a different context than the home. Such firm foundations, when started early, can be continued once your child enters school.
Although more enlightened teachers will accept it, there are often many in pre-schools and kindergartens who can't cope with precocious readers. Children writing or dictating their own stories to go with paintings and drawings is a very natural way of recording experience.
Young children can be fascinated by numbers. Think how important it is for little children to know their age and how proudly they hold up one or two fingers to indicate that they know how old they are. A fascination with numbers is not necessarily an indication of talent. Watch for the young child who readily shows that he/she can understand the concepts of number and time as an indication of talent in this area.
All children are proud of the things they produce at pre-school or at school, but for many talented children the question of how something was made rather than what was made is more important. Ask your child how he/she made, say, the collage that has been brought home. The responses can often give you an insight into the thought processes that led to the product. Gifted children think creatively and can see wider implications or symbolism where it is not so obvious to us. Small aspects such as the choice of a particular color in a painting can be important. Don't forget to display products brought home. All children love seeing their works up on their bedroom wall, in the kitchen or on the side of the refrigerator.
Often parents are worried about young talented children after hearing frightening stories about emotional problems arising in older children. Very little research has been undertaken into how the talented pre-schooler differs emotionally from the non-talented one, but some evidence indicates that talented pre-schoolers feel higher self-esteem, a greater need to achieve and possibly more fear. Young children see themselves through the eyes of the adults around them. Positive feedback by parents and teachers rubs off and is the best insurance that the child will feel valued and 'special'.
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