How many of you want to deny your child a normal childhood?  I know I didn't and you probably don't either.  But I also know that what was a normal childhood for my son was not necessarily what was normal for other kids. His idea of fun, even when he was a toddler, usually involved learning something.  One of his favorite pretend games was school with him doing homework. 

I tried my very best to give my son a well-rounded, happy childhood, so I was sure to expose him to a wide variety of activities, not all of them academic.  However, when I took him to the library and let him choose books, he more often than not chose non-fiction books.  If I took him to the bookstore and allowed him to pick something out, he quite often on his own chose workbooks -- he loved workbooks -- or flashcards.  One of his favorite toys was 2XL, a robot that played a tape with questions and that allowed kids to push buttons for the correct answer. 

My son wanted to play with other kids, but most kids his age weren't interested in workbooks or flashcards or too much 2XL.  Even though I knew the difference between pushing a kid and nurturing his interests, I'm quite sure that to outsiders, it looked like I was pushing my son to learn, preventing him from having a normal childhood. 

Joyoz has raised this issue in the Gifted kids forum.  While parents of gifted kids are more likely to be pulled by their kids than to push them, they can be guilty of pushing.  See what you think about the situation Joyoz describes.  Is it pushing or nurturing?

About a month ago, I wrote about the Virtual Convention that the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is offering for people who can't attend the "real" one in St. Louis this year.  This is really a great opportunity, so I don't want anyone to forget about it and miss it!  You still have a few days to register - until noon on November 6th to be exact. 

The virtual conference takes place on November 7th and it's all day long.  You have real-time access to selected sessions for the whole day for only $79 or $99, depending on whether or not you are a member of NAGC.

Don't miss this great opportunity!  For more information and to register, visit the NAGC Virtual Conference Web site.

It's pretty common for gifted kids to become obsessed with one thing or another.  My own son had several obsessions - dinosaurs, space, Pokemon....  Sometimes the kids seem so obsessed that parents worry.

I'm here to tell you that obsessive behavior can have its benefits.  I myself am quite obsessive about some things (obsessive people to tend to be selective about their obsessions; not everything is worthy).  This past weekend, my computer displayed the "blue screen of death" (BSOD). You may have seen that nasty blue screen that informs you that a serious error has occurred.  Usually, the computer boots right back up and all is well.

Unfortunately for me, that didn't happen.  My computer was stuck in an endless loop of boot up - BSOD -  boot up - BSOD.  It was actually worse than that (yes, that is actually possible), but you get the idea.

I was determined to save my computer.  And I did.  After ten straight hours, I managed to resurrect my computer. You might think my behavior was more like perseverance, a more "positive" trait.  But remember I said I worked ten hours straight.  I couldn't do anything else until I solved that computer problem. I was obsessed with fixing it.  I could have taken it in for repairs.  But what fun would that be?

And there is the key.  In an odd way, I enjoyed the challenge of solving my problem.  It was frustrating at times, but it was also gratifying when I solved the problem.  And along the way, I learned a great deal about the problem my computer had and the way to repair it.  I suspect our obsessed kids get a similar kind of gratification and learn much from their various obsessions.

That's not such a bad thing.

Have you heard that Disney is offering people the opportunity to get a refund on Baby Einstein DVDs? It seems that Disney is admitting something that parents of gifted kids already know -- you can't turn a baby into a genius by showing videos -- or really by doing anything else.  This is not to say that all parents shouldn't help their children make the most of their abilities, but is it really possible to turn every child into a genius Into a gifted child?

Let's put the debate over nature versus nature aside, and look at why Disney is really offering this refund.  The concern is not whether it is possible to make a child gifted if he or she isn't to begin with, but whether watching videos is good for babies, and decidedly it is not. Lisa DeLuca, in her article about the Baby Einstein refund, discusses the research that proves that it is not good for babies to watch TV, even videos.

If you bought Baby Einstein video between June 5, 2004, and September 4, 2009, and want a refund, you can go to the Baby Einstein Web site and apply for the refund.