Gifted Children

If you're a mom, you know how special a mother's role is. Of course, you might be too busy most of the time to feel all that special. Mother's Day is one day that moms should be made to feel special, a day where everyone, including the kids, should show Mom how much they appreciate her and everything she does.

Sadly, many moms are disappointed when their children don't give them a little extra tender loving care on Mother's Day. But kids don't automatically know what they should do to make Mom feel special.  They love Mom all year long and show it in different ways on different days.

If you want your child to understand the significance of Mother's Day -- and continue being the good mom you are -- give her some suggestions on activities she can do both for you and with you. Not only can you spend some quality time with your child, but your child will have a chance to pamper you a bit and learn something about you and your interests.

Mother's Day will be here soon. Even though the day is set aside to honor moms, it doesn't mean that moms will spend the day lounging around being waited on hand and foot. (Moms, you know what I'm talking about!)

But that doesn't mean that kids can show Mom lots of love on Mother's Day.  Even little kisses accompanied by an "I love you, Mom" can make a mom happy. However, there are other ways for kids to show mom some love on Mother's Day.  None of those ways have to cost much money or require a lot of expertise.  All they require is the love a child has for his or her mom.

It used to be that kids couldn't wait till the weather got warm so they could go out and play. These days, with air conditioning, cable TV, video games, computers, and other electronic diversions, parents often have to almost push their kids out the door to play outside.

If you have trouble getting your kids outside for some fresh air and exercise, try enticing them outside with some outdoor games the whole family can enjoy. Some like badminton and croquet are old favorites, but some are new and quite unique, like Djubi and Squap. Not only can games get the family outside, but they can get the family spending some quality time together.

The month is more than half over and I haven't said a word yet about Math Awareness Month. Yes, that's right. April is Math Awareness Month. I did recommend some great fiction math books, but nothing about Math Awareness. But really, who isn't aware of math?

Math Awareness Month is about more than just being aware of math in general. It's being aware of the ways math is all around us and plays an important role in our lives and in the world. If you have a mathematically gifted child, your child no doubt already understands the value of math and no doubt loves it all.

Whether your child is mathematically gifted or not, though, Math Awareness Month is a good time to focus on math and engage in some math-related activities. There are plenty of fun activities for Math Awareness Month, some of which the entire family will enjoy.

When my son was young, I would take him on what I like to call "driving vacations." It's not that we spent all of our time driving, but we did travel by car. The idea was that we'd have a specific destination, but we weren't in a big hurry to get there. Half of the fun was driving there and back.

My son loved museums, especially science museums. So we'd head off in the direction of our ultimate destination and stop wherever there was an interesting place to visit, most often a museum. Back then, there was no GPS systems for the car that could help us plan our trip as we went, but we did have Triple A guides, and brochures in motel lobbies.

These days a driving vacation is a whole lot easier. You drive until it's time to stop for dinner. Then you stop and see if there is someplace interesting nearby. If there is something very nearby, you stop for the night and then spend the day at that interesting spot. If the place of interest is a bit farther away, you drive a while longer and then stop for the night.

With GPS and cell phones, a driving vacation is so much easier, since you can easily call ahead and make reservations, but it's still an adventure. And you will be surprised at the many interesting places there are to visit.

If you haven't planned a vacation yet and were wondering what you might do, consider a driving vacation. Not only is it fun and adventurous, it can almost always be planned at the last minute. Of course, if your destination goal requires advanced reservations, you do need some advanced planning, but not everything requires reservations. Even driving to visit a relative in another part of the country can turn into a driving vacation!

I know.  Math and fiction are complete opposites. Math is fact and fiction is...well, fiction, not real. But math fiction is both fact and fiction. Math fiction consists of stories that help kids (and adults) understand math and math concepts. Even if kids understand math, they will still most likely find the stories entertaining.  I mean, who can resist a story about "Sir Cumference" finding a round table for King Arthur?  There are many great math fiction books that your child will certainly enjoy.

Families today are so busy: parents are working and the kids participate in many different activities. Does that sound like your family?  One great way to get the family together is by having a game night, a night the family sets aside to spend together playing games.

With Sunday being Earth Day, it would be a good day to play some games that will help kids learn about the Earth and ways to care for it. There are some great Earth Day games that the whole family can enjoy. Even if you don't have one of these games handy and can't get one in time to play on Sunday, you can all sit down together and pick one or two you think you'd like to play.

After all, learning about the Earth isn't meant to be done just on one day a year.  We want to learn about it all year and we want to care for it all year.

Earth Day, April 22, is a day set aside for thinking about the Earth and what we can do to do ensure that we leave it as we found it - or better. It really doesn't matter if you're a believer in global warming, climate change, or some of the other planetary concerns. We all want clean water and clean air and we want to respect our home planet. Help your children learn about the Earth and the things they can do to take good care of it. One way to help them learn is through some fun and informative books about Earth Day and the environment.

A recent Associated Press article, School vouchers prompt court fights in U.S. by Kimberly Hefling, got me thinking about vouchers again. I realize that many people don't like vouchers because they say they take money away from public schools.  Money that goes to private schools via vouchers is money taken away from public schools.  That, they say, just worsens the problems public schools have.

In the article, Hefling refers to comments made by Teresa Meredith, a Shelbyville, Indiana, elementary school teacher. Meredith thinks private schools are okay, but doesn't like the idea of of anyone but the parents paying for it. After all, if parents decide to send their children to a private school, then they are also making the decision to pay for it.

There are a couple of problems with that attitude.  First, many if not most parents who send their children to private schools are also paying taxes that fund public schools so they are paying for public schooling their children aren't getting.

The other problem is that many parents who would like to send their children to private school simple can't afford it. This makes it hard for parents who are poor and have gifted kids to get their children an appropriate education. If the public school is failing their children, they have no other choice but to continue sending them to the same failing public school because they can't afford to send them elsewhere.  Only those who can afford to send their kids elsewhere can do so. No wonder people consider gifted education elitist.

But Meredith, who happens to be the lead plaintiff in the court case in Indiana, says "If [parents are] not happy with their local public school, then they need to choose to make their local public school better, not run from it."  That sounds great, but the fact is that by the time any changes are effected, the kids have moved on and won't benefit from them - assuming any changes are actually made.

What do you think?   Take the poll and tell us what you think.  And be sure to add a comment in the comment section.

Even if you eliminated much of the candy in your child's Easter Basket, your child might still be a bit wound up today. After all, there is the excitement of finding the Easter Basket and hunting for Easter eggs. And then there is the visiting with family.

Even if your child isn't tired out, you might be. So it's nice to have some quiet activities for the kids today. Check out the coloring pages by Sherri Osborn and the Coloring Fun Web site. Or if your child enjoys playing games on the internet, check out the games on the Fun School Web site.