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A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children: A Resource for Caregivers and Advocates
A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children (2007), the quintessential compendium of raising gifted children, has been revised! In this new edition, coauthors Edward R. Amend Psy.D., Emily Kircher-Morris, LPC, and Janet Gore, M.Ed. reinforce the reliable approaches originally explored in the first edition, while drawing extensively on the wealth of research and information developed over the last 15 years in the areas of neuroscience, psychology, and education. Our children are navigating a world that in many crucial ways is quite different from the one that existed in 2007. The new Parent’s Guide to Gifted Children includes issues of social media, screen time, LGBTQ, and bullying. For gifted children however, many of the needs remain the same- advocacy, educational planning, access to true peers, and more. Rich in information and strategies, this edition will be referred to time and time again whether you are entirely new to gifted, completing your “active” parenting days, or supporting a gifted grandchild, student, or client.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 11, 2023
39 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 24, 2023
Book 83 of 2023
This was a great book as an introduction in the world of gifted children. It's the first book I have read in this arena, and it did a great job of laying the foundation of defining characteristics and from there, talking about all the different areas of considering -- communication, education, relationships, self-regulation, etc. This revised education not included all the basics but felt "with the times" because of the update which was wonderful. It was such an encouragement to me to see all of this in black and white so that I can better understand my child. On top of that, it gave practical steps and solutions in each chapter so that parents can have tangible ways to move forward and best encourage and advocate for their kids. I would highly recommend for anyone else starting out on this journey.
Rating -- four stars
Format -- paperback
This was a great book as an introduction in the world of gifted children. It's the first book I have read in this arena, and it did a great job of laying the foundation of defining characteristics and from there, talking about all the different areas of considering -- communication, education, relationships, self-regulation, etc. This revised education not included all the basics but felt "with the times" because of the update which was wonderful. It was such an encouragement to me to see all of this in black and white so that I can better understand my child. On top of that, it gave practical steps and solutions in each chapter so that parents can have tangible ways to move forward and best encourage and advocate for their kids. I would highly recommend for anyone else starting out on this journey.
Rating -- four stars
Format -- paperback
September 15, 2024
Nope.
Warning ahead:
This book elicited feelings of serious anger within me as I read it.
So, we have this tiny little box of expectation for children, set by society. According to these people, anything… ANY THING that makes a child different or causes a child to show a little extra interest, makes said child gifted. Oh, and since your child is gifted, you, the parent, are obviously gifted as well. Let’s just all pat ourselves on the back for waking up alive and not pooping our pants. We are all such superior beings to anyone and everyone else.
What a bunch of entitlement mongering! GARBAGE!
Truly, all children are amazing and unique… pure potential, untapped. The ONLY things that separate the gifted from the ungifted is experience/accessibility, and the amount of time parents/caregivers are willing to spend nurturing such things.
Now, does this mean I don’t believe there are instances of true giftedness in certain areas! Of course there are. A toddler who can play intricate piano pieces from only having heard it once, has a gift! Etc, etc… things along those lines. But recognize that instances of true giftedness did not happen because of superior genetics or better parenting- any and all giftedness comes from God.
The authors of this book are entirely too liberal with the label of gifted.
Aside from all that drivel, this book reads like a parenting manual. All the advice in here comes across like it would never work for the “average Joe” kid. BUT EVERY SINGLE CHILD THRIVES UNDER LOVING AND NURTURING CONDITIONS. There is no counsel given in this book that would not work for any child in any circumstance. The problem is, is that we so badly want to have children, but nobody wants to actually be a parent. We ship our kids off to anybody else and expect them to teach them. We delegate our child-rearing to the almighty dollar, and believe what other people tell us about what our kids are capable of; people who will never love our children as much as we love our own children. So these schmucks wrote this book to pacify all of us into believing that we are doing a great job with the minimum effort required.
And so the kids and parents with opportunity, money, time, advantage sit up on their pedestals and claim “giftedness”, which we all know in society and public school settings is synonymous with “superiority”.
Ok, I will step off my soap box now. I went into this book hoping to learn a thing or two. I was not expecting to have such a strong emotional reaction to it, but here it is.
Warning ahead:
This book elicited feelings of serious anger within me as I read it.
So, we have this tiny little box of expectation for children, set by society. According to these people, anything… ANY THING that makes a child different or causes a child to show a little extra interest, makes said child gifted. Oh, and since your child is gifted, you, the parent, are obviously gifted as well. Let’s just all pat ourselves on the back for waking up alive and not pooping our pants. We are all such superior beings to anyone and everyone else.
What a bunch of entitlement mongering! GARBAGE!
Truly, all children are amazing and unique… pure potential, untapped. The ONLY things that separate the gifted from the ungifted is experience/accessibility, and the amount of time parents/caregivers are willing to spend nurturing such things.
Now, does this mean I don’t believe there are instances of true giftedness in certain areas! Of course there are. A toddler who can play intricate piano pieces from only having heard it once, has a gift! Etc, etc… things along those lines. But recognize that instances of true giftedness did not happen because of superior genetics or better parenting- any and all giftedness comes from God.
The authors of this book are entirely too liberal with the label of gifted.
Aside from all that drivel, this book reads like a parenting manual. All the advice in here comes across like it would never work for the “average Joe” kid. BUT EVERY SINGLE CHILD THRIVES UNDER LOVING AND NURTURING CONDITIONS. There is no counsel given in this book that would not work for any child in any circumstance. The problem is, is that we so badly want to have children, but nobody wants to actually be a parent. We ship our kids off to anybody else and expect them to teach them. We delegate our child-rearing to the almighty dollar, and believe what other people tell us about what our kids are capable of; people who will never love our children as much as we love our own children. So these schmucks wrote this book to pacify all of us into believing that we are doing a great job with the minimum effort required.
And so the kids and parents with opportunity, money, time, advantage sit up on their pedestals and claim “giftedness”, which we all know in society and public school settings is synonymous with “superiority”.
Ok, I will step off my soap box now. I went into this book hoping to learn a thing or two. I was not expecting to have such a strong emotional reaction to it, but here it is.
March 27, 2024
What a truly strange book. It should be called “A Guide to Children” because it tried to explain strategies appropriate for child advocacy for all children through a gifted lens and fell short 9/10 times. Nearly every chapter simply explained how to care for all children, not necessarily the subset of gifted children.
On one hand, it identified in several places that parents of gifted children are likely identified as gifted themselves (ie the reader of the book), but for the remainder of the book, it used fairly simple, and frankly elemental, examples of child rearing.
Also, outdated sources and materials- re grade acceleration.
Overall, I was underwhelmed. I was hoping there would be more information specific to the gifted child and building resilience, inquiry based learning, etc.
The only take away I had was a pretty concrete and delineated information about identifying the gifted child.
On one hand, it identified in several places that parents of gifted children are likely identified as gifted themselves (ie the reader of the book), but for the remainder of the book, it used fairly simple, and frankly elemental, examples of child rearing.
Also, outdated sources and materials- re grade acceleration.
Overall, I was underwhelmed. I was hoping there would be more information specific to the gifted child and building resilience, inquiry based learning, etc.
The only take away I had was a pretty concrete and delineated information about identifying the gifted child.
May 20, 2024
2nd edition (2023) is an incredible coffee table resource book for parents (caregivers, loved ones, educators, etc) to better understand how to support and love gifted children in the current day and age. I cannot recommend this book enough.
October 27, 2024
Lots of common-sense parenting stuff, with a few useful things about keeping kids in the habit of learning when they aren't getting challenged in school. A strangely strong negative through-line about divorce.
November 5, 2023
Was a good summary of information and a good place to start for parents wanting to support gifted children
December 1, 2023
Very good, has clued me in on some frustrating behaviors in my son, enabling better connection through understanding.
September 15, 2024
Informative, but not very helpful. Most of the tips are what you read overall. I wouldn't recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews