If you have a gifted child: 1. Be not jealous of thine own child because he or she lives in a freer time than you did -- it's a different time and part of the reason is because of work your own generation did to free it up. 2. Be not jealous of thine own child because he or she is brighter than you are -- your fondest wishes have been fulfilled. 3. Be not jealous of thine own child because he or she has more knowledge than you did at the time -- Jyou've been doing your job right so far. 4. Do not taunt your child with knowledge you have that they do not. It's not that you're all that smarter than they are -- you've just got a quarter century head start on them. 5. Be not jealous of thine own child if he or she has more toys (or computers) than you did at their age -- you've been enriching their environment the way YOU would have wanted it. 6. If your child wants to explore beyond the boundaries of your own mind, stand back and let them. Do not build your boxes around someone else. 7. Do not resent the fact that raising bright children takes time, effort, and money. If you thought you were engaging in kid-raising for profit, you were totally wrong. 8. Never handicap your child by making things too easy for them. .do Things to do 1. Make your home their place of security where they are always loved, always treasured, always safe, no matter what the rest of the world thinks. 2. Make sure you child has access to a computer -- his or her mind moves much to fast to be satisfied with many of the human playmates around. 3. Don't forget your child is a child in many ways. Stuff toys, cuddly pets, and hugs are still in great demand and needed to fully form any child. 4. Give your child things that can be taken apart and perhaps put back together. Give your child their own set of simple tools, especially if she's a girl -- she'll get little enough encouragement at spatial reasoning from the schools and the rest of society. 5. Raise a gifted child as if you are a facilitator and custodian for this child for the rest of the humanity, for truly, gifted children grow up to be adults who make things happen in this world. 6. If you want your child to LIKE being bright, praise his or her newest discovery, even if you already made that discovery long ago. Each child is an explorer in an unknown world. All things are new and all new things are being looked at in a new way by a new mind. Sometimes they may see something different than you saw 25 years ago. 7. If you had YOUR mind, trapped in a child's body, what would YOU like the world to be like for you? 8. If your child comes across a teacher who feels threatened by how bright your child is and makes his or her life miserable by stifling creativity and different ways to doing things, BELIEVE IN YOUR CHILD. There are real jerks in the teaching profession too and you need to be the one in your kid's corner to keep them fighting for what's right. 9. If you child's school doesn't challenge him or her, challenge your child at home, seek to change the school (for everyone's benefit), and help the child to challenge the teacher to be more creative. 10. If your gifted child does not share your opinions on all issues, YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT RIGHT! It is your job not to raise a clone, but to raise an independent human being. You're doing a good job if they see things differently from you. Beside, in thirty years, they'll see you were right anyway and you can say "I told you so!" 11. Listen to teachers, listen to principals, listen to counselors, listen to experts. Then listen to your child and listen to your heart. Your love for your child will help you to do the best. Assure them of your constant love, no matter how "peculiar" they think themselves to be. 12. Your gifted child can be extremely self-critical. Help them to see this love for perfection can destroy them and make them unable to ever do anything if they can't do it perfectly. Doing things just well or well enough can be quite useful in this world. 13. Tolerate diversity, cherish creativity, embrace the changes in your world, live your own life, take time for yourself -- your child will be better off with a happier parent. Sorry about the typo's. I see #2 of the DO's should TOO instead of TO for one part and an extra "J" crept in while I was typing above that. How about the rest of you? You've all seen parents who sabotage their kids - give Karelle and the rest of us additions to this list. Richard Adams Pleasant Hill High School Pleasant Hill, Oregon ---