I just read a post by jingF on the giftedkids forum. Her six-year-old son is advanced and doing advanced schoolwork. When he was in kindergarten, he was able to do second and third grade math, so when he was in first grade, he found math lessons to be rather boring.  JingF is giving him additional math lessons now at home and worries that she is being a pushy parent.

Parents of gifted children often worry about turning into a pushy parent.


And it's no wonder why. We are bombarded with warnings about the consequences of pushing children. We are told by family, friends, and teachers to "let your child be a child." Worse, we get advice from experts who site studies that warn us about the dangers of being pushy. One example is an article by John Rosemond, Overinvolved, pushy parents rob their children.

In this article, Rosemond refers to a study that found that few gifted kids "live up to their potential." Many parents of underachieving gifted kids are well aware of the underachievement problem. But what did the study conclude about the cause of underachievement?  Pushy parents who rob their children of their childhoods.

It doesn't sound like jingF is pushing her child and I know I sure didn't push my child (he was dragging me along behind him!)  Some parents do push their children, but that doesn't mean all parents of all gifted kids push their children. Most parents of gifted children are simply trying to nurture, not push their children.