How to Parent Your Gifted Child

Dolphins, Helicopters, and Tigers—Oh My!

When I created this Substack, I promised never to give parenting mandates, and I won’t start now.

Despite what parenting experts will have you believe, there is no one right way to parent a child (dolphin parenting, helicoptering, and tiger-mothering included), though there are more and less effective methods—and some that are obviously harmful.

Yet here I am, writing a highly-researched article about gifted parenting because I know that parents still want the “best” method for parenting their gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) kid.

Common questions I frequently receive include:

• How much do we push them?

• How do we know when to pull back?

• Is this thing they do weird, or just gifted kid behavior?

• How do we know when something is a problem?

• Since they’re so sensitive, will it damage our relationship to give them consequences?

• Should we be enrolling them in multiple after-school programs so we don’t waste their potential?

• How do we talk to family about our differently wired kid?

• How do we help our child make friends?

• Should we attend to our child’s giftedness or to their learning disability?

• How do I talk to the school about their needs?

• What if we don’t have the money to provide all that we want for them?

• If I am overwhelmed by parenting my gifted kid, does that make me a bad parent?

• Am I enough to parent my gifted kid?

If you are asking these or similar types of questions, you are enough for your gifted child. Yet sometimes we still need guidance, and that’s where the scientific literature comes in handy.

Today’s deep-dive for paid subscribers will finally give you some answers.

Research-Backed Parenting Strategies for Gifted and 2E Children