Per the Davidsoninstitute, children who are gifted are defined as those who demonstrate an advanced ability or potential in one or more specific areas when compared to others of the same age, experience or environment. These gifted individuals excel in their ability to think, reason and judge. Do you think that you have a gifted child? According to the parenting expert and Educational Psychologist Dr Patricia Britto, at GoodtoKnow.com, here are four qualities that will help you spot gifted children and know what these characteristics mean for both you and your child.
Gifted children have a passionate zest for life.
Per Dr. Britto, gifted children approach life with excitement and energy, often giving everything they have to tasks they’re given. These children are excited to embrace each day, to the fullest as they set off on new adventures.
“Children who are gifted and talented are likely to have a zest for life and keen to explore a range of activities that are linked to their interests and talents.”
Gifted children are hyperfocused.
Children who are gifted tend to have an extreme concentration and visualization when it comes to their particular interest and/or passion.
“Being hyperfocused can have positive effects as it enables children to sustain their attention at length on a task that is linked to their interest which can lead to positive outcomes. Children may find completing a certain task rewarding which can lead to hyperfocus. They may find a certain task extremely rewarding that it’s hard to move on to something else which may be a challenge when learning in a classroom.”
Gifted children need to develop a sense of resiliency.
Gifted children tend to sail through life without ever really meeting a challenge or failure. This can counteract their sense of resilience when they come up against something that actually challenges them. Parents need to be on top of this one and help to nurture a sense of resiliency so that their children can adapt to any situation.
“Children who are gifted and talented are often able to recover quickly from difficult conditions once they know how.”
Gifted children give it their all.
Gifted children give whatever the task they are trying to accomplish their all, all the time.
“The ‘all-or-nothing’ approach to academic success is a likely feeling and characteristic that gifted children might have. They may struggle with the feeling of never being good enough but equally be motivated to achieve great accomplishments.”
If you have checked all of these four boxes and think that your child is gifted, do they possess any of the following additional characteristics? If so, they may also be MENSA material.
Per the official Mensa website, “more than six million people qualify for membership in the U.S. alone — that’s one person in every 50.” There is no age limit to join the prestigious club of intellectuals; however, you have to take the test for admission and score “within the upper 2% of the general population.”
- An unusual memory
- Passing intellectual milestones early
- Reading early
- Unusual hobbies or interests or an in-depth knowledge of certain subjects Intolerance of other children
- An awareness of world events
- Set themselves impossibly high standards
- May be a high achiever
- Prefers to spend time with adults or in solitary pursuits
- Loves to talk
- Asks questions all the time
- Learns easily
- Developed sense of humor
- Musical
- Likes to be in control
- Makes up additional rules for games
- Extrovert/introvert
