“Did you know that it’s National Parenting Gifted Children Week?”  Can you believe it?  I can’t.  I really can’t.  I was alerted via a  Facebook group that keeps parents up to speed on important happenings regarding the Gifted and Talented Education program in our school district.

I have two thoughts…

When I was in grade school, I was told that I was gifted and that I’d be going to a special classroom for ‘giftedness’.  I was SO excited.  Gifts!  I was going to get gifts!  Seriously.  That’s what I thought.  Can you believe they let me in the door?  Our first activity was papier-mache masks and I thought, ‘Wow.  We have to make our own gifts. I guess that’s cool.’  This memory pops into my head all the time and makes me want to seek out the IQ test scores that indicated my intelligence.  A mistake may have been made.

My other thought is… How would one go about celebrating National Parenting Gifted Children Week?  I can tell you, parenting gifted children is no walk in the park.  They argue.  They find your weak spots.  They negotiate for everything  like hostages are at stake.  They wear you down, poke holes in your parenting, and try to drown you in your own feeble reasoning.  I’m thinking the usual celebrating probably only occurs when they grow up and make enough money to put you in a really, really nice old folks’ home.   So, I have an idea.  If you’re a gifted child, the celebration is up to you.  You owe it to your parents to do something nice.  Buy them a gift!  If you have no money, make a papier-mache mask!  If you have no glue and flour, simply take a mental vacation, so your parents can, too.

Happy National Parenting Gifted Children Week!