Watching television

An interesting observation was made recently at a  Professional Development session I was attending. The gifted child watches 5 hours less television than the average child  per week.  Over a school life this amounts to a huge difference in learning time as they are often doing more learning in those 5 hours and getting more and more different from the average child. No amount of change in schools will overcome this increasing difference. Only a change in parent supervision can make that difference. 

 Recently the parent of an 8 year old told me that her gifted daughter went to a birthday party and did not understand what was going on. The whole party was so commercialized from television that she and another girl  did not get the sexualized references, the advertising language and the fashion agenda. The parent wondered if she should expose her daughter to more of these things so she could fit in. However when I told her about the research she felt reassured about her choices. Many parents of gifted chidlren do the same and wonder how it is affecting their child. They do not need to worry. Good parenting always helps a child. The only time it is negative is when the child is not encouraged to do things for him or herself when they could do it. They need to learn to be independent in safe areas appropriate for their common sense level.  I have seen parents carrying the bag of an 8 year old. It is not being kind or loving; it is being overprotective.  One thing that children need to understand is that a  family is a micro community and everyone has to put in according to their abilities,  to make it work really well.  Then they learn respect for other people and their abilities, and they grow in confidence and feel good about their contribution to the common wealth.