How can I best nurture my gifted infant/toddler?
A lot of the common wisdom at this age is to treat her like any other child. This is true, sort of... The best thing you can do with any child is to love and nurture that child, be open to her blossoming individuality, get in tune with her needs. BUT, I think the *needs* of gifted kids, even [infants], are sometimes different or more than those of other kids. She probably needs to be read to even more than normal, needs opportunities to see and explore even more, may need more discipline than a typical 13 mo old (i.e., the old divert and redirect method stopped working with my daughter at a very young age, so we had to find other creative means of keeping her out of trouble!). It's going to require a lot of creativity on your part.
We try to limit our toys to those that have ageless appeal. A kid sized table and chairs
with a set of dishes and play foods provides lots of fun. My daughter had a great time with
my spice rack starting around 13 mos, and still does. We'd sit together and she'd unscrew the
caps and smell the spices, place the cap back on, then place the round bottles of spice back
into the holes of the spice rack. We'll often dismantle our couch cushions to make into a
"slide" or a "tent". Both my kids have a blast climbing on the cushions,
hiding in the "tent", etc. Puzzles, dolls, balls, slide, water play, sand box...these
are all things that have been tried and true favorites.
Posted by Melody_Mom, 10-19-2000
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It helps to look into what schooling will be available when you need it. It took me 2½ years to
find a school for R & I wish I had looked into it sooner...[As for nurturing] Let the child
set the pace. If he asks, answer. If he doesn't care to do something or is bored with it,
move on to something else. If you provide a safe environment for your child to learn what he
wants to know you wont need to worry.
Posted by Mrsdayo, 12-4-2000
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