-
-
Is your kid really gifted? Probably not.
Did your child walk and talk early? Does she have a brain like a sponge? Scribble magnificently? Love learning? Ask questions that leave you marveling (and scrambling to Google an answer)?
You can't make your child be gifted, but you can help your kid reach his or her potential.
You can't make your child be gifted, but you can help your kid reach his or her potential.
Wow, clearly she's a genius!
Or, um, maybe not.
"Gifted" has become one of the most tossed-about words in the parenting lexicon. Unfortunately -- sorry, but let's get this out of the way right up front -- it's also one of the most misused.
The vast majority of children are not gifted. Only 2 to 5 percent of kids fit the bill, by various estimates. Of those, only one in 100 is considered highly gifted. Prodigies (those wunderkinds who read at 2 and go to college at 10) are rarer still -- like one to two in a million. And despite the boom in infant-stimulation techniques, educational DVDs, learning toys, and enrichment classes, those numbers haven't been increasing. You can't build giftedness; it's mostly built in.
Still, it's hard to resist scrutinizing your child for signs of greatness. (Those "signs" in the first paragraph, by the way? Not one guarantees an intellectual giant.) The growing fascination with giftedness is part natural impulse to see our offspring as special, part wanting to be sure a child's needs are met, and maybe a bit of hoping for a competitive edge in the increasingly cutthroat school-admission process -- or bragging rights.
"There are no average kids anymore," notes Devra Renner, a clinical social worker and coauthor of "Mommy Guilt". "The word 'good' is like the new 'bad.' Why settle for even 'smart' when you could instead call your child 'gifted'?" Did your child walk and talk early? Does she have a brain like a sponge? Scribble magnificently? Love learning? Ask questions that lea... more -
More proof that videogames make you smart :)
Video games are not for dumbasses. Video games are serious buissiness and they can make you smarter, more decisive and more dangerous! Beware people! Video games are not for dumbasses. Video games are serious buissiness and they can make you smarter, more decisive and more dangerous!... more
-
Fold your arms, it makes you smarter
The mere act of folding your arms increases perseverance and activates an unconscious desire to succeed, new research shows.
-
Happily, not all american kids are geography-challenged!
Smart toddler!
-
Top 10 Hottest Smart Girls in Hollywood
Because everyone knows smart is sexy.
-
War on a Moped
After a week and a half of filming in Lebanon, the BlakkBox team decided it was time to send their footage back home before anything could happen to it or them. Sending the footage home would not be easy though as they quickly found out. To send the tapes home as fast as possible, Josh and Charlie grabbed some mopeds and headed out on a journey to the DHL in Damascus. This pod documents their 14-hour journey to Damascus. After a week and a half of filming in Lebanon, the BlakkBox team decided it was time to send their footage back home before anything ... more
-
Smart Car
Angela Sun test drives the Smart Car, one of the most fuel-efficient gas powered cars on the planet, and discovers why this pint-sized automobile has already taken Europe by storm. Angela Sun test drives the Smart Car, one of the most fuel-efficient gas powered cars on the planet, and discovers why this pint-sized... more
-
Agent Superstar
Superstar sports agent Glenn Toby on what it takes to be a successful agent in the NFL and why he can never forget his humble roots.
-
related topics
Smart
Contributors (37)
Smart
