>>Thank you for pointing out that being 'smart' or 'gifted' is NOT easy on kids.<<
You're welcome. I'm glad I could help.
>> Where I grew up it was ok to be smart, if you came from the right family. Otherwise your test grades were a fluke, or other smart kids should have be granted the attention/notice you earned. <<
0_o Creepy.
>> Children can be incredibly vicious when no one reins them in. <<
Yes, that's true.
>> I think if Tony had to attend a regular school in his early years he might have ended up even more leery of human interaction. <<
I agree. Going to private boarding schools at least let him be around other smart people. *ponder* I think what went wrong for Tony is that by that time, he'd already been trained for PR performance and had grown up in a dysfunctional family. Those habits would have made it hard for him to make friends, even in a target-rich environment.
>> Some kids take to dumbing down ( the Buffy tactic) Some find a niche to hide in ( I'm a tomboy/car nut/ etc etc) and some just withdraw ( leave me alone in my geekdom). But in the end, it almost always leave scars. <<
Too true.
>> It's hard even with accepting parents, because they don't always see the social pitfalls. <<
Yes. Even if they see the pitfalls, though, there's often nothing they can do. You can't make good friend candidates appear out of thin air. Parents may not be able to move somewhere better, or the family might be attached to their current locale. They might not be able to afford special clubs or camps for smart kids, or a school with decent gifted programming.
>> And the trite reply of 'it's just elementary school/high school it won't matter in the real world' does no good to a child suffering from isolation or bullying. <<
People forget that school is pretty much a child's whole life, and primarily determines their happiness, in the same way a job does for adults, until they leave school. So if school is a torment, as it is for many children, they often develop mental injuries -- and sometimes that damage is permanent. Isolation and bullying can create measurable biochemical changes in the brain, indicative of those injuries: in other words, brain damage.
Re: Thank you!
You're welcome. I'm glad I could help.
>> Where I grew up it was ok to be smart, if you came from the right family. Otherwise your test grades were a fluke, or other smart kids should have be granted the attention/notice you earned. <<
0_o Creepy.
>> Children can be incredibly vicious when no one reins them in. <<
Yes, that's true.
>> I think if Tony had to attend a regular school in his early years he might have ended up even more leery of human interaction. <<
I agree. Going to private boarding schools at least let him be around other smart people. *ponder* I think what went wrong for Tony is that by that time, he'd already been trained for PR performance and had grown up in a dysfunctional family. Those habits would have made it hard for him to make friends, even in a target-rich environment.
>> Some kids take to dumbing down ( the Buffy tactic) Some find a niche to hide in ( I'm a tomboy/car nut/ etc etc) and some just withdraw ( leave me alone in my geekdom). But in the end, it almost always leave scars. <<
Too true.
>> It's hard even with accepting parents, because they don't always see the social pitfalls. <<
Yes. Even if they see the pitfalls, though, there's often nothing they can do. You can't make good friend candidates appear out of thin air. Parents may not be able to move somewhere better, or the family might be attached to their current locale. They might not be able to afford special clubs or camps for smart kids, or a school with decent gifted programming.
>> And the trite reply of 'it's just elementary school/high school it won't matter in the real world' does no good to a child suffering from isolation or bullying. <<
People forget that school is pretty much a child's whole life, and primarily determines their happiness, in the same way a job does for adults, until they leave school. So if school is a torment, as it is for many children, they often develop mental injuries -- and sometimes that damage is permanent. Isolation and bullying can create measurable biochemical changes in the brain, indicative of those injuries: in other words, brain damage.