• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
A Quiet Simple Life with Sallie Borrink

A Quiet Simple Life with Sallie Borrink

Simple Living, Homeschooling, Faith, Homemaking, & Books

  • Start Here
  • Blog
  • Categories
    • Easy-To-Use Category Page
    • Books
      • Book Lists
      • A Month of Cozy Children’s Books
      • Picture Books for Children
      • Chapter Books for Children
    • Christian Devotionals
      • Morning Hope
      • Eventide Blessing
      • Streams in the Desert
    • Christian Faith
      • Prayer
      • Marriage
    • Current Events
      • Sallie’s Stack of Stuff
      • Grand Solar Minimum
    • Faithful Living In Difficult Times
    • Favorite Comfort Food Recipes
    • Free Printables
      • Free Homemaking Printables
      • Free Learning Printables & Worksheets
    • Gifted & 2e
      • Raising Gifted Children in the Christian Faith
      • Gifted/2e Parenting
      • Gifted/2e Homeschooling
    • Gracious Christian Parenting
    • Health
    • Holidays & Traditions
    • Home Business
    • Homemaking
    • Homeschooling
      • Relaxed Homeschooling
      • Homeschooling a Creative Child
      • Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices
      • Homeschool Mom Life
      • Homeschool Planning
      • Homeschool Relationships
      • Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
      • Right Brained Learners
      • Homeschooling High School
      • Homeschooling Middle School
      • Homeschooling Preschoolers
      • Homeschool Rooms
    • Introverts
    • Learning With Themes
    • Money
    • Our Simple Family Life
      • Only Child
      • Pregnancy & Baby
    • The Prudent & Prepared Homemaker
    • Restoring America
      • The Fourth Turning & The First Turning
    • Simple Living
    • Simple Living This Week
  • Tags
  • The Shop
    • A Full Year Shopping Pass
    • Explore The Shop By Category
    • Digital Products Terms of Use
    • Your Account Details
      • View Your Orders
      • Go To Your Downloads
    • Lost Password Help
  • Subscribe
  • Newsfeed
  • Social Media
  • Forum
  • Donate
  • My Recommendations

Writing At Age 2 Wasn’t In The Baby Books – Kathleen’s Story

You are here: Home / Gifted & 2e / Gifted/2e Parenting / Writing At Age 2 Wasn’t In The Baby Books – Kathleen’s Story

Post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure statement.

September 19, 2015 by Sallie Borrink
1 Comment

How old is your gifted child? When did you realize your child was gifted? Was there a certain lightbulb moment or event?

I have two children, my son, C who is 8, and my daughter, J who is 4. For my son, our lightbulb moment was when he started writing at 2 years old. Even though he was able to read small words we didn’t think that was “too different” from normal development. But writing? That hit the “hmm, this isn’t normal” alarm bells.




My daughter was and is different again – she loves letters and numbers but is not super-advanced compared to age-peers. But she is a whiz at abstract problem solving – if it’s a visual puzzle, she’ll nail it, otherwise she seems pretty “normal”.

Looking back, did you miss signs of giftedness? Which ones stand out the most now?

We missed them all! My son was so alert and awake all the time – he had fabulous head control from an extremely early age. But we never kept a baby book, we were too exhausted. So I have no idea how advanced he was as a baby.

For my daughter I kept a detailed book for the first 10 months – and then she started walking and detailed record-keeping became impossible! But by then we were fairly sure she was at least a little advanced.




Were you ever in denial about your child’s giftedness? Or was giftedness simply not on your radar?

Not on the radar – I had no idea what it was until we got our first psych report just before my son’s third birthday. And then the results were so at the “not-normal” end of the bell-curve that it was a necessarily fast learning curve for our family from that point onward.

If you had a do-over, what is one thing you would change regarding how you parented your gifted child?

Not pay attention to the baby-books! I’m a book-based type of person and loved reading about what my kids would do at X age. Neither of them have ever followed any of those “kids develop this way” books. I think about all the hours I spent trying to get a not-tired baby to sleep because “babies need X hours” and kind of wish I could get those hours of (my) missed sleep and (his) fun back.

What do you enjoy most about your gifted child?

Seeing how their minds run with an idea. We have had the most amazing, mind-blowing and, yes, deeply silly conversations. And every time I start to take what they do for “normal”, they surprise me with something profound or silly or both!

What is most challenging about parenting a gifted child?

The exhaustion. There is no “off switch”. My partner and I rarely get down-time or adult-time because the kids are dynamos. We work around it as best as we can, tag-teaming a day off once a month.

What is one thing you would tell parents who have a newly identified gifted child?




Take a deep breath, and remember that they are still the same child they were yesterday. Your journey will be very different from what you planned or imagined, but if you focus on what your child needs and what your family needs, it’s going to be OK and it does get easier.

Is there a specific blog post that you would like to point people to that will show them more about your gifted child journey?

I have a number of blog posts on our journey with our children. Probably a good place to start is Why We Homeschool. And this is a page link to some of the activities where I have written about our homeschooling journey with gifted kids.

Read More Parenting a Gifted Child Personal Stories

Read all the parent posts in the series Parenting a Gifted Child – A Series of Personal Stories:

  • The Key Was Understanding Twice-Exceptional (2e) – Sallie’s Story
  • Writing at Age 2 Wasn’t in the Baby Books – Kathleen’s Story
  • Missing the Gifted Overexcitabilities – Doresa’s Story
  • Profoundly Gifted is a Whole New Ballgame – Cait’s Story
  • Embracing the Gifted Label – Renee’s Story
  • Highly Verbal But Not Reading In a Twice-Exceptional Child
  • Parenting Multiple Gifted Children – Heather’s Story

Begin Understanding Your Child With My Short Ebook – Available Right Here in My Shop

Writing at Age 2 Wasn’t in the Baby Books - Kathleen’s Story

 1  
Category: Gifted/2e ParentingTag: Parenting a Gifted Child - A Series of Stories

Recommended For You

Saying “No” To Holiday Pressures

Embracing Multipotentiality As A Gifted Adult – Heather’s Story

When You Begin To See Your Child As A Problem To Be Solved

When Homeschooling Is Hard – The Day I Called The Public Elementary School

 

Spreading Traditional Goodness, Beauty, Truth, and Hope

Please click here to donate. Thank you! ♥

Previous Post: « The Key Was Understanding Twice-Exceptional (2e) – Sallie’s Story
Next Post: Missing The Gifted Overexcitabilities – Doresa’s Story »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bob Yamtich

    September 23, 2015 at 11:58 pm

    Thanks for the heads up to ignore the baby books. Still, “Writing at Age 2” makes one heckuva title.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Thank you for your comment. I read and appreciate each one even if I am unable to respond.

Sidebar

Welcome! I’m Sallie, Christian wife, mother, homebody, relaxed homeschooler, autodidact, truth seeker, and digital soldier. Traditional and conservative both theologically and politically. I value freedom to live quiet and simple lives. I don't apologize for being white. Please start here. ♥

Chit Chat

~ Lots of new content in the Forums

~ If you turn off your adblocker, I truly appreciate it. ♥

~ Thank you second quarter donors! ♥ ED, AC, BO (x3), AC (x3), DH (Initials only for privacy)

~ Did you put on the Armor of God this morning? Ephesians 6:10-20

Popular Posts Today

  • Forum (Read-Only)
  • Home Page
  • What Was In The Envelopes At President Bush’s Funeral?
  • Recommended Video – Devolution Power Hour With Guest Jovan Hutton Pulitzer
  • The Ultimate List of AIP Comfort Food Recipes
  • Classical Conversations Negatives And Why We Didn’t Join
  • Understanding “The Devolution Series” By Patel Patriot
  • He Drew Me Aside – “I Needed the Quiet” by Alice Hansche Mortenson
  • Free Printable Journal Pages
  • Copywork Printables in Print & Cursive
  • Why I Homeschool In The Afternoon and Not The Morning
  • Let’s Learn About Squirrels
  • Recommended Video: “Take Your Children Out Of School” – Psychiatrist Dr.…
  • Simple Living This Week No. 87
  • Newsfeed
  • 100 Wholesome Books For Girls And Tweens
  • Encouraging A Homeschool Mom – 57 Bloggers Share Their Most Encouraging Post

Categories

In Your Cart

Popular Today – My Shop

  • My Winter Favorites – Printable Booklet
  • Fun Fact Cards Free Sampler
  • Mexico Copywork – Print & Cursive
  • Christmas Word Search – A Savior Is Born
  • True Or False? Activity – Winter
  • Butterfly Fun Facts Cards
  • Ohio Clip Art & Digital Papers
  • Mexico Fun Fact Cards
  • 50 U.S. State Seals Clip Art

Recent Comments

  • Marc Edward Granger on What Was In The Envelopes At President Bush’s Funeral?
  • Marc Edward Granger on What Was In The Envelopes At President Bush’s Funeral?
  • James Roe on What Was In The Envelopes At President Bush’s Funeral?
  • Sallie Borrink on Classical Conversations Negatives And Why We Didn’t Join
  • Melissa on Classical Conversations Negatives And Why We Didn’t Join
  • Peggy on Simple Living This Week No. 87
  • Cheryl on Do You Take Your Own Bible To Church?
  • Sallie Borrink on Sallie’s Stack of Stuff – June 22, 2022 (They Are Doing This On Purpose)
  • Sallie Borrink on Sallie’s Stack of Stuff – May 18, 2022 (The Great Replacement Theory)
  • Brenda Nuland on Sallie’s Stack of Stuff – June 22, 2022 (They Are Doing This On Purpose)

New Post Alerts

Get new posts by email

Powered by follow.it

 

Access Everything

Contact Me • Privacy Policy • Disclaimers & Affiliates

Copyright © 2022 · A Quiet Simple Life with Sallie Borrink · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme

Scroll Up