IS YOUR CHILD GIFTED? ( Part 1)

Two- year old Matthew

by Earlie Doriman
My two-year-old son Matthew amazes me everyday with his new phrases and jargon.  He is learning very quickly and his memory is just impressive at his age.  His grasp of both English and our native language is noteworthy, and he can express himself clearly than other children his age.  Well, I am his dad, and tendency for parents is to be overly proud of their children.  However, I am not exaggerating what I actually observe from my little boy.  It would be too immodest to say that he has the early signs of giftedness, yet no one could impede me to feel immense bliss and delight about my son.

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What happiness it brings when your child starts talking using reasonable words. You would know how he feels and he can respond to you in a real world, rather than understanding the meaning of the blubbers, and tantrums, and vague gestures.  More joy one could feel to see his two-year old, being able to associate his feelings with the things that he notices and sees around. As parents, that is what we are feeling, excited, ecstatic, sometimes speechless but thankful.

One late afternoon when I was watching again one of my favourite films, THE PATRIOTS, I was honestly stunned when he jumped out from his chair and asked as he looked at the TV screen and glanced at me, (and I quote without embroidering what he actually said), “Tatay, what’s happening now? they fighting,…….I feel sorry…that’s not good”.  It was such a hard blow to realize that watching such film with him was not appropriate. The violence and war were just too much for his young sense of comprehension.

I quickly grabbed the remote, turned off the player and scanned one of his favourite children shows – CBEEBIES. Good thing Mr Tumble was very lively to divert his attention and so he sat down again and watched. It did not save me though from the guilt that had almost left me wordless. I could have explained the film but I thought he could not definitely get the whole matter. In fact he’s not bothered about the story, he was just maybe ( just maybe) awfully uncomfortable to see such hostility.

At his age now; he can say the ABC’s; count 1 to 15 with ease; identify scrambled numbers; he knows the fundamental colours; can recognize shapes; can open the computer and click through the browser by himself; he can identify letters on flashcards; very imaginative that he can create a little story out of something he is playing; he loves to play the bricks; he loves to sing nursery rhymes, he memorized the names of his friends at the crèche as well as the names of his childminders, and many others; but most surprisingly he memorized the current top 20 songs and its singers of the UK music channel.  I am not saying he can articulate the titles completely but the fact that he could remember them and could right away identify the title and the singer simply astounded us as parents. I am definitely flabbergasted by his development. It is amusing and at the same time startling because that means we have to introduce him to new things everyday, give him another set of challenges and ask him new interesting questions. He is easily bored with repetitions. He is very inquisitive and could easily learn and remember.

Yet again he is just a two year old child, he fights for his toys, he cries when he’s left out, he still drinks his milk and enjoys his cereal.

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