I am the "you're too smart for this" variety of gifted kid. I was home-schooled until 7 grade, and then in 7 grade i was definitely a big fish in a tiny pond. Cue highschool, ninth grade. I got all A's first semester, but I burned out and struggled to retain B's in the second semester, and my grabdes have since then hovered around B's and C's, which isn't that bad, but makes my parents angry because I'm "smarter than that"
I used to be near the top of my class and had all As, but I've been struggling to maintain that lately. In an effort to prove that I have worth, I am forcing myself to only gets As and feel awful if I get anything lower. Yay, low self-esteem!
I am the "you're too smart for this" variety of gifted kid. I was home-schooled until 7 grade, and then in 7 grade i was definitely a big fish in a tiny pond. Cue highschool, ninth grade. I got all A's first semester, but I burned out and struggled to retain B's in the second semester, and my grabdes have since then hovered around B's and C's, which isn't that bad, but makes my parents angry because I'm "smarter than that"
I used to be near the top of my class and had all As, but I've been struggling to maintain that lately. In an effort to prove that I have worth, I am forcing myself to only gets As and feel awful if I get anything lower. Yay, low self-esteem!
That's no way to live. Good grades are not worth having low self-esteem. Set your expectations high, and reward yourself when you reach them, but give yourself room to be human.
for all of elementary school, i was the “good across the board” kid, becuase i think i was really good at getting the basics down. i went to private school my whole life until university, so there was no official gifted program, but in like 1st-2nd grade, i was always given more advanced books, more advanced math homework, etc. i coasted for a long time, and never truly studied for a test until like 5th or 6th grade, but at some point, being “good at arithmetic” and “good at spelling” sort of stop being accomplishments. when i got to middle school and i had to study, i had never learned how to, so i went from a straight a math student to a pretty average math student, but i was still good enough at arts and humanities to keep that overachiever/gifted-kid mentality and put a wild amount of pressure on myself, and my parents put a wild amount of pressure on me too (they constantly made me feel like unless i did well, i was a financial burden, even though they were the ones who had sent me to private school my whole life). i also only ever let myself enjoy things that i was “good” at, so for instance, even though i was interested in science, i convinced myself at some point in high school that i “wasn’t a science kid” and stopped applying myself in my science classes so i wouldn’t have to face the terrifying ordeal of actually trying and still not being perfect, but getting bad grades still stressed me out so i couldn’t just ignore those classes entirely. then at some point in high school, i guess when my mental illness really reached a boiling point, i just burnt out completely when it came to caring about grades, and so did my parents, because i think they finally started to understand the psychological toll their expectations took on me. i’m studying english and film theory in college now, and i do genuinely love those things, and it’s kind of a relief for me to know that my grades are a lot better when i only take classes i’m “good” at. but i can’t help but wonder how much better off i’d be if i’d grown up with a healthier attitude towards grades. like now, when i have to take a science gen ed, i strive for the bare minimum, but what if someone had taught me how to study for those classes before i had a complete mental breakdown, or helped me realize earlier that needing to work at something doesn’t make me stupid? idk man. the “gifted kid” label can be incredibly harmful, which i’m sure you’re all well aware of.
has anyone here seen the movie 3 idiots? it kind of grapples with this ultra-competitive education style that privileges Being The Best over learning for your own enrichment. plus it’s one of my favorite movies and it was the first bollywood film i ever saw :’)
(oh, and it’s on netflix)
(Ooh nice! Also film is awesome.)
Yeah hi i've been told my entire life by everyone around me that I'm really smart and super advanced and my favorite teacher said I was one of the smartest students he's ever taught, and yep i feel dumb like always, I get flustered, I can't say anything worth anything, and I think I'm terribly annoying. I'm constantly competing with my siblings, even though I know there's no reason to, I feel like I'm the dumbest of the bunch
Not sure if this exactly counts, but here she be
I was the flavor of gifted kid who has always had a mature mind and was at least ok at most things (also the involuntary teacher's pet). I learned to walk, talk, and read at a really early age and at age 3 I told my mom that I didn't think Santa was real because it was impossible for him to get to every house. Anyways, school and test taking has always been really easy for me and I was put in the gifted program at my public school at an early age. Because I was socially awkward but still smart and polite, I was always the teacher's favorite. But as I got older, I realized that I wasn't really passionate about any one thing and I had problems applying myself because things had come to me naturally. It's hard for me to do things that I'm not good at now because I'm not used to it and I pressure myself. I still do good in school, but I don't know what I what to go to college for, feel like I haven't developed proper life skills, and have missed several big opportunities because I didn't follow through.
(Also, I have had general and social anxiety from a very young age so I put too much pressure on myself and had bad self esteem issues.)
I’m just now realizing one of my major issues is with being a GT kid, I was always kind of taught that intelligence and talent always stayed on the same level, or at the very least, people who had more natural talent would always be ahead. I think that’s why I can’t commit to things if I’m not naturally good at them, I feel like I’ll never be anywhere close to good enough. So I’ve quit on a lot of things, especially if I do put in effort and it doesn’t yield results.
oh my gold. i didn't realize how many writers and creative people were former or current gifted kids lmao but it doesn't surprise me at all
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
Yeah, I may have that problem too
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
mine are mostly stupid. out of current characters tho nicky is straight up a genius. and then the dude went and transferred from his fancy private smart kid school to ANOTHER private school but for less smart kids. his twin is more a people genius.
I’m just now realizing one of my major issues is with being a GT kid, I was always kind of taught that intelligence and talent always stayed on the same level, or at the very least, people who had more natural talent would always be ahead. I think that’s why I can’t commit to things if I’m not naturally good at them, I feel like I’ll never be anywhere close to good enough. So I’ve quit on a lot of things, especially if I do put in effort and it doesn’t yield results.
that's a really good point, and sort of what i was trying to get at (though i wasn't as concise lol). gifted kids learn that their intelligence is the source of their worth, and that their worth is intrinsically linked with their "natural talent," which is such a nebulous concept to begin with.
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
mine are mostly stupid. out of current characters tho nicky is straight up a genius. and then the dude went and transferred from his fancy private smart kid school to ANOTHER private school but for less smart kids. his twin is more a people genius.
Honestly so many of my stories center on washed-up gifted kids that it's kinda wild. All of my realistic fiction stories (besides the Much Ado musical ig lol) center on different former gifted kids.
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
out of my main 5, i have 1 gifted kid who never grew out of the overachiever mindset, 2 who at least sort of did (although they have plenty of other issues), 1 who wasn't a gifted kid in school but was gifted in other ways (magic) which led the adults in her life to hold her to a similar higher standard and now her ego is both super inflated and super fragile, and 1 who could never have been considered academically gifted in any sense and she's better off for it.
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
out of my main 5, i have 1 gifted kid who never grew out of the overachiever mindset, 2 who at least sort of did (although they have plenty of other issues), 1 who wasn't a gifted kid in school but was gifted in other ways (magic) which led the adults in her life to hold her to a similar higher standard and now her ego is both super inflated and super fragile, and 1 who could never have been considered academically gifted in any sense and she's better off for it.
In my realistic fiction stuff, I've got Victor (duh), Geneva, Jackson (kinda? he was the "smart but doesn't apply himself" type), Kate (current gifted kid), Max, Beckett, Marisol, and Della's entire friend group.
Oliver'd definitely be considered a former gifted kid, as would andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), Francesca, and Margot, and Samuel a current one, same with Lysander.
Christopher and Trinity too.
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
out of my main 5, i have 1 gifted kid who never grew out of the overachiever mindset, 2 who at least sort of did (although they have plenty of other issues), 1 who wasn't a gifted kid in school but was gifted in other ways (magic) which led the adults in her life to hold her to a similar higher standard and now her ego is both super inflated and super fragile, and 1 who could never have been considered academically gifted in any sense and she's better off for it.
In my realistic fiction stuff, I've got Victor (duh), Geneva, Jackson (kinda? he was the "smart but doesn't apply himself" type), Kate (current gifted kid), Max, Beckett, Marisol, and Della's entire friend group.
Oliver'd definitely be considered a former gifted kid, as would andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), Francesca, and Margot, and Samuel a current one, same with Lysander.
Christopher and Trinity too.
when i was making victor's moodboard earlier today, he was giving me major anxious gifted kid vibes
I didn't realize how many of my characters were former/current Gifted Kids (or are by their setting's standards/equal or would be considered such if they lived in our setting)
out of my main 5, i have 1 gifted kid who never grew out of the overachiever mindset, 2 who at least sort of did (although they have plenty of other issues), 1 who wasn't a gifted kid in school but was gifted in other ways (magic) which led the adults in her life to hold her to a similar higher standard and now her ego is both super inflated and super fragile, and 1 who could never have been considered academically gifted in any sense and she's better off for it.
In my realistic fiction stuff, I've got Victor (duh), Geneva, Jackson (kinda? he was the "smart but doesn't apply himself" type), Kate (current gifted kid), Max, Beckett, Marisol, and Della's entire friend group.
Oliver'd definitely be considered a former gifted kid, as would andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer), Francesca, and Margot, and Samuel a current one, same with Lysander.
Christopher and Trinity too.
when i was making victor's moodboard earlier today, he was giving me major anxious gifted kid vibes
He definitely is, of the "I had my entire future meticulously planned and I have no idea what to do now that that plan's been ruined-" variety
I just realized that Oberon also falls into the gifted/formerly gifted kid category and I don't know how I feel about that.
Hey yall, im still in gifted. Am i allowed to join this chat?
Ya I think so. I’m still in the gifted program I just suffer a hell of a lot :’)
Ya I think so. I’m still in the gifted program I just suffer a hell of a lot :’)
I've never been gifted, just honors in some classes, and I STILL suffer a hell of a lot xD
I wasn't dumb though. "Apply yourself" was basically the motto of my childhood…
At this point I'm stuck so far in my comfort zones with the things I AM good at, I've stopped progressing. Part of why I gave up art, I just wasn't happy with my work, wasn't having any fun, and quit. Now trying to learn how to be a game master for my family I'm having a hard itme reminding myself that it's a skill I have to develop :/ Normally If I'm not already good at a thing, I just quit
