The various attitudes that parents display toward a gifted child range from excitement and pride to bewilderment and even negative attitudes about giftedness. Some parents seem to be concerned primarily with the child’s achievement. Some gifted children sense that they are not loved for themselves but for what they can achieve, and resent this, sometimes to the extent of doing poorly in school.
Some parents seem almost jealous of their gifted children and have difficulty communicating with them for reasons which neither parents nor children understand.
Other parents appear indifferent to their gifted children. These are usually parents who place a low value on education, thus restricting their children’s natural eagerness to learn.
A favorable home environment is one where basic affection for the child is expressed in efforts to meet his/her needs without excessive permissiveness. In such a home the child has freedom within limits-- freedom to explore, to experiment, to read widely, and to have friends. He/she has many outlets for intellectual interests, but is not pushed. The child who is pressured may resist learning which would come naturally to him/her.
