On the second day of Christmas, the gift was two calling birds, so today the focus is on games involving birds. Birdsource.org has some great online games featuring our feathered friends. The goal of Birdsource is to help kids become familiar with bird, so there is much more to the site than games. There is a guide for identifying birds, tips for identifying birds, and suggestions on how to choose the right binoculars. It may be too cold for bird watching now, but it's a good time to consider buying binoculars as a gift!

Games on the site include one that requires kids to find the differences between two almost identical pictures, identify birds by their song, a video quiz, word seek puzzles, and jigsaw puzzles.

Here is what the other guides are doing for day two:

The Twelve Days of Christmas at Parenting and Family Guide Sites

• The Twelve Games of Christmas by Carol Bainbridge, About Gifted Kids
• The Twelve Days of Finals by Jackie Burrell, About Young Adults
• The Twelve Days of Baby Products by Heather Corley, About Baby Products
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Preparations by Carrie Craft, About
  Adoption & Foster Care
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Coloring by Beverly Hernandez, About
  Homeschooling
• The Twelve Days of Christmas for Kids by Katherine Lee, About Child Parenting
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Printable Tags by Sherri Osborn, About Family Crafts
• The Twelve Days of Christmas for Babies by Jennifer White, About Baby's First Year
• The Twelve Days of Kindness by Jennifer Wolf, About Single Parents

Related Site:Children's Book Review: The Twelve Days of Christmas by Elizabeth Kennedy, About Children's Books

The Twelve Days of Christmas at Home and Garden Guide Sites

• The Twelve Flea Market Finds by Leah French, About Flea Markets and Yard Sales
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Decorations by Lisa Hallett Taylor, About
  Pool & Patio
• The Twelve Laundry Stains of Christmas by Mary Marlowe Leverette, About
  Laundry
• The Twelve Trees and Shrubs of Christmas by Vanessa Richins, About Trees
  and Shrubs
• The Twelve Fishy Sightings by Shirlie Sharpe, About Freshwater Aquariums
• The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Franny Syufy, About Cats

We all know the lyrics to the song "Twelve Days of Christmas." It has made us all familiar with the 12 days of Christmas, which were originally meant to be a way to teach children about the Christian faith. Now most people just have fun with the song, wondering why on earth anyone would want to end up with twelve partridges in twelve pear trees or thirty lords a-leaping, and figuring out just how much all those gifts would cost.  Some of the guides around the Parenting and Family Channel have thought of a new way to consider the twelve days before Christmas.  I thought it might be fun to take a look at twelve days of games. The first game, representing a partridge in a pear tree, is a new game from Banangrams - Pairs in Pears.

Here's what the other guides are doing for the first day of Christmas, in the parenting and Family Channel as elsewhere on About.com:

• The Twelve Days of Christmas Printable Tags by Sherri Osborn, Family Crafts
• The Twelve Days of Christmas for Babies by Jennifer White, Baby's First Year 
• The Twelve Days of Baby Products by Heather Corley, Baby Products 
• The Twelve Days of Kindness by Jennifer Wolf, Single Parents 
• The Twelve Days of Finals by Jackie Burrell, Young Adults 
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Preparations by Carrie Craft, About Adoption & Foster Care
• Celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas by Elizabeth Kennedy, About Children's Books
  
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Coloring by Beverly Hernandez, About Homeschooling
• "The 12 Laundry Stains of Christmas" Mary Marlowe Leverette, About.com Guide to Laundry
• The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Franny Syufy, About Cats
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Decorations by Lisa Hallett Taylor, About Pool & Patio

That, to me, is an interesting question. My first response would be to ask another question: Enough for what?  A recent article by Jay Mathews in the Washington Post discusses this issue (Why gifted classes are not enough: the Warren Buffet case).

Mathews doesn't think that gifted classes are enough to serve the needs of gifted children.  I know few parents of gifted kids who would disagree with him.  However, he makes a few statements that I find troubling. 

• "Many parents are happy that their children have been designated gifted.
  But we have no data to show that such children wouldn't be better off
  if they were just taken to the library and told to read anything they
  liked."
• "That [new testing policy] doesn't address my problems with gifted education: the deceptive
  nature of the label and the idea that only some children are good
  enough for enriched instruction."
• "Many school districts are trying to eliminate this inequity, but very quietly because so many parents love the label."

The example Mathew holds up is Warren Buffett, who was bored in class and more interested in pursuing his business ideas than in doing his schoolwork. This will come as no surprise to many parents of gifted kids who are bored in school.  However, I question whether simply letting gifted kids sit in a library to read whatever they want is a good strategy.  That seems a bit too much to me like "gifted kids will do just fine on their own" and "gifted kids don't need any help to succeed."

I wonder how much talent goes to waste because gifted kids are left on their own and end up underachieving?  When will people understand that gifted kids are kids with special needs and parents, like all parents, want the needs of their children met?

We all know the lyrics to the song "Twelve Days of Christmas." It has made us all familiar with the 12 days of Christmas, which were originally meant to be a way to teach children about the Christian faith. Now most people just have fun with the song, wondering why on earth anyone would want to end up with twelve partridges in twelve pear trees or thirty lords a-leaping, and figuring out just how much all those gifts would cost.  Some of the guides around the Parenting and Family Channel have thought of a new way to consider the twelve days before Christmas.  I thought it might be fun to take a look at twelve days of games. The first game, representing a partridge in a pear tree, is a new game from Banangrams - Pairs in Pears.

Here's what the other guides are doing for the first day of Christmas, in the parenting and Family Channel as elsewhere on About.com:

• The Twelve Days of Christmas Printable Tags by Sherri Osborn, Family Crafts
• The Twelve Days of Christmas for Babies by Jennifer White, Baby's First Year 
• The Twelve Days of Baby Products by Heather Corley, Baby Products 
• The Twelve Days of Kindness by Jennifer Wolf, Single Parents 
• The Twelve Days of Finals by Jackie Burrell, Young Adults 
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Preparations by Carrie Craft, About Adoption & Foster Care
• Celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas by Elizabeth Kennedy, About Children's Books
  
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Coloring by Beverly Hernandez, About Homeschooling
• "The 12 Laundry Stains of Christmas" Mary Marlowe Leverette, About.com Guide to Laundry
• The Twelve Cats of Christmas by Franny Syufy, About Cats
• The Twelve Days of Christmas Decorations by Lisa Hallett Taylor, About Pool & Patio