Tag: motivation

Mindfulness and activities for gifted kids

Small bags and pouches by my 10 year old
A small quilt for her dolls

I had a tough day.. what ever I did I couldn’t control the outbursts of emotions.. I tried to maintain calm and explain, hugged, tried to play , watch something together on tv, read together but every few minutes they were charged and charging over each other for trivial things.. the noise level was too high.. crying happened for most part of the day.. I did not know what to do..

I just took up my sewing kit and theirs.. placed everything on the sewing table and started off on my mindful rhythmic sewing patterns.. few minutes later both were sitting beside me sewing their stuff.. all of a sudden the whole house was calm and peaceful..

I collect scrap fabrics from my projects into a bin.. I use them to teach them quilting.. I let them plan their lay out and choose fabrics.. then hand sew.. no deadlines.. no pressure.. just some rhythmic motion based on their ideas..

It improves hand-eye coordination, calms the brain, converts their energies into something positive.. improves appreciation for hand work.. boosts self confidence and self belief.. I insist on converting the small patches they make into products of their use.. it improves self worth to look at what you make with your hands being of good use.. choosing a design and colour coordination helps in decision making.. it is a way to express feelings.. it’s a mode to communicate..

They enjoy the process.. perfection is not the aim but perseverance is.. it’s a life skill too.. with no gender barriers.. helps navigate through emotions.. better than a regular boring handwriting book to train the hands..

My 5 year old working on embroidery for her quilt

Journey to failure to understand getting up matters..

  • Experience the failure to see success..

giftedkids #gifted #life #lifewithgifted #highIQ

One day I got a call from his school teacher just after the school time.. anxiously I picked up the call.. the teacher told me to ask him what happened at school today after he comes home..

I asked him after he refreshed about day at school and he was not comfortable.. after a hug he told me, “amma today in language test I went blank and did not know what to write for a question.. I told the teacher that I will refer to the book just to remember the key word and she said no.. ” I asked him if what he did was right and it’s ok to write an answer wrong or not write an answer but he told me, “how can I ? I know that I know the answer.. I can’t fail.. it will be humiliating to fail.. but the teacher told me to write the test another day with today’s absentees” I told him to prepare well this time and thank the teacher for giving another chance..

As I thought through the happenings I realised he had hardly faced failure even in little things in life.. he just had to try once sometimes with help and sometimes without help to do anything.. he could get most things 75% well without effort.. while most children had to practice to get that.. those kids did face failure at least little by little and learnt to try more.. he never had to try more.. a little effort and his learning was done.. then it struck me that kids learn by watching adults.. did he see us fail? NO! Here I was wearing the super mom tag trying to show how brilliantly I handle so many things.. I never showcased my failure.. It did not help anyone.. my frustrations were also pilling up.. I decided to shed that image.. I started showing him how plan A, B,C.. never worked .. it was plan N or sometimes plan Z that worked and I had to adapt to it.. sometimes none worked.. it helped me to responsibly channelize my frustrations and learnings as I know he is watching and learning.. I let him see that I fall many times but I get up and get going.. I can see the difference.. he tries after initial frustrations now.. and the teacher had been understanding that though he knew , the thought of doing something wrong disturbed him.. he needed that understanding..

For many Gifted I learnt frustration is the major issue.. trying again and again becomes difficult.. because they don’t know what failure is in childhood..

Let me know your thoughts..