Families and Gifted Children (continued)

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It should be noted that within the home there are natural teachers. Others cannot equal the knowledge of and concern for the child. With a few learning tools at their disposal, family members can play a major part in their child’s early education. Attitude is a most important ingredient in any learning situation. We must approach learning with a spirit of adventure and playfulness. Learning should be a joy, not a punishment; a favor, not a duty. Family members can ensure this attitude if they allow the child’s natural curiosity to guide the task.

As early as 1980, research confirmed that the amount of time families spend playing with their preschoolers is directly related to an increase in verbal intelligence test scores (Falbo & Cooper, 1980). Families of gifted children read to their children three times as long each day as do families of children who are not gifted. They encourage language development, encourage freedom, and expose their children to a variety of experiences, including the arts, nature walks, and natural history museums. They engage in school-related activities six times more frequently than do the families of those who are not gifted (Karnes, Shwedel, & Steinberg, 1984). Snowden and Christian (1999) reported that families of young gifted children provided choices and exposure to a variety of experiences that furthered these children’s cognitive, social, emotional, psychomotor, and communicative development.

In a study on parental style (Stanford study, 1986) the researchers found that children of authoritarian parents are not as successful in school as are the children of parents who use a more authoritative style. The researchers described authoritarian parents as ones who “attempt to shape, control, and evaluate the behaviors and attitudes of their children in accord with an absolute set of standards” (p. 3). In contrast, authoritative parents set clear standards, while recognizing children’s rights, expecting mature behavior, and fostering a healthy share of verbal exchange. Additionally, it was found that placing too much emphasis on either punishing or rewarding children for grades results in lower performance and less internal motivation for the child. The study found that the correlation between parenting style and success in school crosses ethnic boundaries and would be true of interactions with any person who is the caregiver.