The potential for using giftedness for good or evil is explored. Parents are urged to steer gifted youth into multiple pay-it-forward channels as they develop, so they will apply their gifted potential in a wise and caring manner to problems of the here and now. (Contains four references.) (CR)

What are the basic truths about giftedness that parents have seen and experienced as they follow, and, direct the development of their children? In what ways did sandstorms of misinformation or geological upheavals among theories about just who is or is not gifted bury good sense about nurturing the creative responses seen on a daily basis in…

Matt Ridley, an Oxford-trained zoologist and science writer whose latest book is "Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human" (2003a), wrote such an impressively clear and fascinating piece on "What Makes You Who You Are" that the author decided to use it to introduce the continuing pursuit of "What do I do to best promote…

Looking for relevant material for the Adolescent Psychology course she teaches, the author's attention was drawn to a book by Thomas Cottle, "Mind Fields: Adolescent Consciousness in a Culture of Distraction" (2001). Robert Frost's quotation, "Grant me intention, purpose, and design--That's near enough for me to the Divine," in the frontispiece…

This article provides profiles of five sets of parents of precociously developing youth of various ages. The parents explain issues they have faced and problems solved. These include advantages and disadvantages of living in an international community, use of community resources, educational placement, acceleration, and parent advocacy. (Contains…

A study involving 1 urban site and 5 rural sites investigated the effectiveness of the Mustard Seed Project in training teachers to differentiate curricula for gifted students. The majority of the teachers (n=74) at each site made changes. Participants cited staff-development activities, leadership, mentoring, resources, and project support as…