All parents and teachers, not just those who work with gifted kids, are often concerned about how to make the best decisions for each unique child. All children need custom attention to help them grow up resilient, flexible, and compassionate. The challenge of working with gifted children is that it can feel isolating and lonely without proper support and resources. Sometimes just a little advice, validation, or encouragement, can go a long way towards working through the tough spots. Because of this 优蜜视频 offers complimentary Gifted Support Group (GSG) meetings during the school year.

GSG meetings invite leading professionals to share their knowledge and experience. These meetings provide support and community in a space specifically for shared discovery and exchanging resources and ideas. Someone else is going through or has gone through the same struggles. The GSG meetings offer a community eager to share what they have learned in their journey through not only gifted education, but also gifted living.

Talking about common struggles together is a great way to brainstorm solutions. Maybe something that didn鈥檛 work for one student is the fix another family is looking for. Sharing experiences with other parents and educators who interact with gifted children has proven to be enormously helpful in supporting gifted students strive towards reaching their full potential.

Sharing what we have learned may help someone else forego the struggles the community has encountered. But the right community of like-minded people can provide more than just new information, it allows you to be yourself. You can enter the space with no fear of judgment.

Join our community as we work together for continued success.

Here are some recording and resources from last year鈥檚 GSG meetings.

Linda Powers

Jill Stowell

Cynthia Molt

Susanna Pollack

Bethany Kwan

Maya Sissoko

Bonus

• with 优蜜视频 President, Betsy Jones sits down with Jill Stowell of The Stowell Learning Center.

As parents of gifted children, we鈥檝e all had our share of 鈥渢hose moments.鈥� Like when our child has a enormous melt-down in the store aisle, or when we are late for school or work, because our child can鈥檛 leave the house until the tags on their clothes are all cut off, or when we鈥檝e reached our limit and yell, because, well we鈥檙e human too.

After experiencing one of those moments, what do you tell yourself? Do you quickly blame yourself or others, do you berate yourself for messing up, or replay the situation over and over reminding yourself of what a failure you are as a parent? Have you ever responded by telling yourself, 鈥楾his is really hard. You鈥檙e really suffering now. You鈥檙e going to be ok, you鈥檙e doing the best you can.鈥� Take a moment to reflect on a recent one of those moments. Now imagine if you were to hear the same narrative from one of your dearest friends. What would you say to them? Would you have a critical response, blaming or shaming them for a mistake, or would you offer them compassion and empathy? I鈥檓 assuming that if you鈥檙e like most people, you wouldn鈥檛 imagine telling them some of the same things that you so easily tell yourself.

Parenting is a slippery slope. It鈥檚 one of the most challenging endeavors we encounter as human beings, and yet, there are no absolute instructions. However, when we look around us, someone else always seems to be doing it better. It鈥檚 really easy to fall into the shame trap as parents: never feeling good enough, being keenly aware of our shortcomings and mistakes, or replaying the highlight reel of our latest blunders. However, learning to practice self-compassion is the antidote to all those shame poisons we commonly ingest after a challenging day. Self-compassion quells the voices of doubt, shame, criticism, and judgement.

So what exactly is self-compassion? It鈥檚 offering ourselves empathy and compassion, just as we would to a dear friend or to our child in a time of suffering or pain. When we learn to recognize our own voices of criticism, perfectionism, comparison, judgment, or shame, and turn them around into kindness and empathy, we are practicing self-compassion.

Researcher and author, Kristin Neff, Ph.D., () talks about self- compassion as 3 essential components.

• Self-Kindness vs.Self-Judgement: 鈥淔irst, it requires self-kindness, that we be gentle and understanding with ourselves rather than harshly critical and judgmental.鈥�
• Common Humanity vs. Isolation: 鈥淪econd, it requires recognition of our common humanity, feeling connected with others in the experience of life rather than feeling isolated and alienated by our 鈥�
• Mindfulness vs. Overidentification: 鈥淭hird, it requires mindfulness鈥攖hat we hold our experience in balanced awareness, rather than ignoring our pain or exaggerating 鈥�

I鈥檝e noticed in my own life, along with other parents that I know, it鈥檚 easy to begin with good intentions to make positive changes, or develop a new practice, but then life seems to always get in the way. For me, I鈥檝e become conscious of what I need to be stay aware and grounded, and in turn able to be compassionate to myself and others. There are four things that will always work against us, and sabotage our efforts of self-compassion.

• 鈥淭he Shoulds鈥�: Whenever I detect disappointment or resentment creeping up inside me, I know that I need to check my expectations. When we can be honest about the expectations we have for ourselves as a parent, or for our鈥檚 child鈥檚 behavior or achievements, then we can explore where they鈥檝e come from and if they鈥檙e realistic or not.
• Shame: When we see ourselves as flawed, not good enough, or as a failure, our core worthiness is in jeopardy, and we will inevitably struggle with showing ourselves kindness and
• Shrinking Space: A packed life and schedule leaves no room or margin for error, reflection, or intentional practices. Practicing simplicity of schedule builds in space for the unexpected moments of life that will inevitable
• Swift Speed: When we are able to slow down, we are able to cultivate patience for ourselves and towards our children. Patience is an important piece of showing kindness and

Take a moment today, to play back something that happened recently between you and your child that didn鈥檛 go well. This time, adjust your lens to see yourself and the situation with empathy and self-compassion. Then offer yourself words and actions of comfort and compassion, just as you would to a good friend. Nurturing yourself is not selfish or indulgent, it鈥檚 essential for our own emotional well being, and goes a long way in modeling self-compassion to our children as well.

Michele is leading our September Gifted Support Group Meeting.听

Topic:听Parenting, the Self-Compassion Way

As parents of gifted and exceptional children, we are often focused on the pursuit of finding the individuals, services, experiences, etc. that will adequately meet our children鈥檚 ever-changing needs. But what about us? What about our experiences and inner worlds? In this presentation, therapist and parent of gifted and 2e children, Michelle Bodwell, will discuss the importance of tuning into ourselves, recognizing our inner dialogue, and cultivating a practice of empathy and self- compassion for the parenting journey.

Biography:

Michelle Bodwell is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Board-Certified Art Therapist with a private practice in South Pasadena. In her practice, she specializes working with women, of all ages, guiding them in finding creative solutions for life鈥檚 problems. Through the journey of parenting her own gifted and 2e children, she understands the struggles and challenges of raising exceptional individuals and lends her experiences in leading A Mother鈥檚 Retreat, a parenting support group for mothers of children with high emotional needs. For more information go to

As parents of gifted children, we all have our own memories of the moment or moments which led to our realization that we had a gifted child. Whether it was the comment of another, the feedback from an evaluation, or our own intuitions, we remember it clearly. Our world changed in that moment, and marked the beginning of our journey into the world of giftedness.

My own journey as a parent began with the birth of a wonderful son, who after his first birthday went from an observant baby to a highly verbal, quite independent, and intense toddler. Since his birth had ushered me into parenthood, I didn鈥檛 have any other benchmarks to compare his development against, but there were times that I noticed that his seemed different from his peers. When my mother would marvel at my son鈥檚 quickly paced development, I shrugged it off as a grandmotherly-bias. However, about 5 years into his life, when a psychologist friend, who also had a child of the same age said to me, 鈥淗e鈥檚 gifted,鈥� the light finally went on for me. This was my moment of realization.

After testing confirmed that he was highly gifted, I threw myself headlong into learning more about this new world that now was my reality. Reading books, attending SENG parent meetings, pursuing various evaluations, seeing therapists and doctors, and researching educational options were part of my life for the next several years. Navigating the 2e path for my second son who came along 18 months after my first, proved to be a little smoother since part of it had already been paved. Now, more than a decade later, I can say that I am still learning as a parent, how to address all the needs that gifted children have: intellectual, educational, emotional, physical, relational, spiritual, etc.

One of the biggest challenges for me as a parent of gifted children, has been learning how to address to their emotional sensitivity and intensity. My bookshelves hold a host of books aimed at parenting sensitive, intense, explosive, inattentive and out-of-sync children. Even though prior to motherhood, I was educated and trained as a Marriage and Family Therapist, I had to dig deep to find new tools and methods to handle what my parenting duties required: navigating huge meltdowns at transitions or changes, soothing the deep anxiety and existential crises that would ward off sleep night after night, or quelling the anger and rage that ensued after a perceived injustice. I remember the relief that came when I learned of Dabrowski鈥檚 research on overexcitabilities, which normalized these responses for gifted children who felt deeply and expressed fully. This knowledge also helped me to adjust my responses to my children鈥檚 behavior; to offer more understanding and empathy, and to work on reinforcing the connection that I had with them, so that when we had rough times, we had a strong foundation to support us. Through these changes, I was able to shift from seeing these challenges as 鈥渋ssues or problems,鈥� and rather to acknowledging them as the gifts that they are, the capacity for deep emotional awareness and relational depth.

As I learned more about giftedness, I began to see more clearly that some of the clients I was seeing as a therapist were raising gifted children, or dealing with their own giftedness as adults. As parents of exceptional children, they expressed feeling exhausted and tired from the non-stop energy of their children, or being overwhelmed with handling intense emotions, or feeling isolated and lonely from those around them who couldn鈥檛 relate to their parenting stories.The mothers described all the energy they were directing towards getting all the necessary support for their children, while desperately being in need of support for themselves.

This became another moment of realization for me. In response to hearing about these needs, I launched A Mother鈥檚 Retreat, a group designed to support the mothers of children with emotional intensity and sensitivity. By providing a safe and nurturing environment, my desire is for each person who attends to be encouraged, supported and to most importantly, know that they are not alone. Taking what I have learned from the past decade, I now have the opportunity to provide for others a unique space where mothers can come together and share their lives, to gain insight, and be refreshed. And so my own journey continues, being informed by what I see and learn as I raise myown children, while listening to the stories of others. Wherever you are along your own unique journey of raising a gifted child, I hope that you have understanding people to encourage, support, and share the road with you.

To learn more about A Mother鈥檚 Retreat or gifted friendly therapy services, go to听

Michelle Bodwell, LMFT, ATR specializes in providing individual and group therapy for women in all seasons of life. Her goal is to provide each woman with a safe and therapeutic place to explore their feelings, be supported, find creative solutions to problems, and to become a more fully integrated whole person. She is a mother to two amazing gifted sons, who have been by far, her best teachers in life.

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优蜜视频 recently hosted a Gifted Child Parent Support Group Meeting that featured a homeschooling parent panel where local parents shared their experiences and perspectives 鈥� both positive and negative 鈥� on homeschooling their gifted student. As part of the discussion, panelists and attendees shared gifted homeschooling resources and recommendations (below) which have stood the test of time and experience with their highly able learner. Many of these resources are local to the Los Angeles and Pasadena, California area, but many are offered nationwide as well.

For All Gifted Learners:

Schools for Gifted Learners:

(project-based learning; not specifically gifted)

Colleges & Universities:

Evening and Weekend Lectures at Local Colleges and Universities (see individual school websites for calendar list of events)

P.E. Options for Homeschoolers:

Local Parks and Recreation Departments (see your local city鈥檚 department website for offerings)

Curriculum, Charter Schools & Online Resources for Homeschoolers:

(优蜜视频 is a vendor)

Homeschool L.A.

Local Public Library (homeschoolers can get a special library card for educators)

(优蜜视频 is a vendor)

Meetup Groups and Additional Social Opportunities:

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Are there any resources you have found helpful in homeschooling your gifted child? Please share in the comment section below.

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