A few questions, and feel free to ignore, tangent, etc. any as you see fit:
1.) It seems you had a good educational upbringing from your parents. What did they do to encourage and promote your ability to learn and understand?
2.) What things do you think children in your situation need to be made aware of–whether it's to understand life, childhood, society, or themself–that may be overlooked?
I'll leave it at that for now. I ask because as I plan for parenthood, I want to make sure I can help my child understand the world better, but also be socially well adapted for their peers, as well as feel good about their life as they understand who they are in the world.
Thanks
I think (2) is a good question, but a huge one, I'm not sure what to say within a HN comment. I know it's a cliche, but certainly that being smart isn't everything, there's a lot more to life. The game-like recognition of academic credentials and so on is not as meaningful in the real world as it seems "in the bubble."
That said, what I think is a common thread of prodigies is a hunger and thirst for knowledge, to learn things. I carry that with me today, and think it's something to be nourished.
But I'll say this. I was very socially awkward as a kid and teenager. I dated some as an older teenager, but didn't feel quite comfortable until I got to grad school (at 22). Then I fell in with a peer group, got a really good friend group (who I still keep in touch with), dated and got married, had two kids, now divorced. So it's definitely part of my story, but my experience now is probably not all that different than most of my friends.
I know that this kid was raised really isolated from kids around the same age, did you also have this and how do look back at this?
And yes, I was pretty isolated from other kids. Part of that story is that I grew up in a very rural, mountainous area. Looking back, I wish I had had more of a peer group. I wanted to go to the Johns Hopkins gifted program, but I think my parents were reluctant to let their little boy go into the big bad world. I regret they didn't.
Also how did this affect your expectations of your own children?
Regarding my own children, this is complicated and I don't really want to talk about it here, but I'll say that their mom and I made sure to make opportunities available, but put a lot less pressure on them than I had when I was growing up.