notable accomplishments
I received an email a few days ago about a Kindermusik educator's blog in South Carolina. It chronicles the musical journey of the Kindermusik educator and her very special intern. I found their adventures both inspiring and heart warming. It was so refreshing to remember anew why I do what I do in my music classes each week and how many lives may have been touched along the way. I'll get back to my posts on gifted children soon, but today I just needed some time for reflection. ENJOY!
St. Patty's with Seniors
I am so excited about our upcoming St. Patty's for Seniors event. This free Kindermusik party will be held at Central Park Health Care Center on March 17th at 10:30 AM. We will be joined by some of the seniors who live at the facility for some Irish music, dancing, singing, and of course lots of FUN that is guaranteed to bridge the generations!
I hope to see you there!
a few more thoughts
I hope you are enjoying the blog series here on gifted children. In thinking about what we've discussed so far, I have become concerned about two things. First, I don't want to represent gifted children in a negative light. I realize that so far I have painted the gifted child as a rather complex, sensitive, strong-willed individual. While this is true, it does not adequately show the more joyful side of raising a gifted child.
- They have a keen sense of humor
- Their large vocabulary gives them a unique and engaging way with words
- They have a zest for learning new things, which can often be contagious
- They are highly creative, both with problem solving and pretend play
Secondly, I don't want parents to misinterpret the information in my previous posts and think that all challenging children are gifted or that high intelligence excuses poor behavior. Neither of these statements are true. There are many characteristics that combine to identify a gifted child. If you'd like to read more about that, I encourage you to click here. All children require proper guidance in order to become healthy, productive adults. As a parent, you can use your unique knowledge of your child's strengths, weaknesses, and personality to better understand how to accomplish this task.
Fund Raisers
As you well know, most children's musicians have CDs and videos to sell after their performances. What you might not know is that musicians are often willing to work with schools and venues to sell their CDs and videos to raise money for the schools or venues.
For example, prior to the musician's performance at the school, an order form can be sent home with each student to purchase the musician's merchandise in advance. The school then lets the musician know how many pre-orders have been placed so that the musician can bring enough merchandise to fill the orders on the day of the performance. The musician then gives the school a previously agreed upon percentage of the sales back to the school as a fund raiser for the school.
In the case of an organization, a manned merchandise table may be provided for the musician free of charge before, during and after a performance, and the musician gives the venue a percentage of the sales.
In the case of a venue with a gift shop, the venue can purchase the merchandise from the musician at a wholesale price and sell the merchandise in the gift shop before, during and after the performance.
These are just a few ideas of how creating a musician/venue partnership can be mutually beneficial. Some musicians rely on merchandise sales and cannot afford to give a percentage away, but if the venue or school can guarantee a larger number of sales than the musician can get on his/her own after the performance, creating a fund raising partnership may be worth it. It never hurts to ask.
Innies and Outies
Before you go checking belly buttons... We're going to talk a little about different personality types in gifted children. If your child is an extrovert, there is no mistaking it. They are the outspoken, busy butterflies, who flutter from topic to topic hardly pausing for a breath. An introvert on the other hand, prefers to sit back and observe it all, quietly drawing conclusions from all that unfolds before them.
Extrovert, gifted children can be exhausting at times. They overflow with worries, ideas, joys, questions, and fears. No thought or feeling is too small that it shouldn't be vocalized and thoroughly explored. As inundating as this bombardment may feel to the parent, I suspect it is equally as overwhelming to a young, gifted extrovert who may not understand how to deal with the variety of emotions that they are feeling.
On the other hand, a gifted introvert may hold much of this information inside. This may alleviate the overwhelmed parent, but likely not the child. Considering the depth of emotions and feelings that gifted children deal with, this may not be the healthiest scenario for an introvert. Take some time to talk with your child about their feelings. Encourage them to share their feelings with you and applaud them as they grow and learn how to work through their emotions successfully.
Extrovert, gifted children can be exhausting at times. They overflow with worries, ideas, joys, questions, and fears. No thought or feeling is too small that it shouldn't be vocalized and thoroughly explored. As inundating as this bombardment may feel to the parent, I suspect it is equally as overwhelming to a young, gifted extrovert who may not understand how to deal with the variety of emotions that they are feeling.
On the other hand, a gifted introvert may hold much of this information inside. This may alleviate the overwhelmed parent, but likely not the child. Considering the depth of emotions and feelings that gifted children deal with, this may not be the healthiest scenario for an introvert. Take some time to talk with your child about their feelings. Encourage them to share their feelings with you and applaud them as they grow and learn how to work through their emotions successfully.
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