EFFECTS OF STRESS ON GIFTED KIDS

That gifted kids are the envy of their friends and precious treasures of the parents is beyond a shadow of a doubt. Naturally succeeding in academic setting, they become the object of admiration. Unfortunately, it is indeed a complicated matter behind the curtain. Kids with their gifted abilities are prone to suffering stress and pressure from their peers, their parents, and their own accomplishments. The impact of stress on them from such young age is likely to wreak havoc on their development, or even their life. One of the most common consequences of stress on talented children is their susceptibility to unhealthy perfectionism. Since those kids have always been showered in compliments, they would be doomed to receive critical remarks on the fields they deem they are born for. As a result, “enough” is not a word in their dictionary. They are under the impression that they have to maintain their high rank at all time and feel an obligation on them to never stop striving to be better. In fact, being hard-working and improving oneself is not bad; it is the deleterious commitment that set the precedence for destructive outcomes. Gloomily, living with that mindset is not viable for them at all. Next, the talented kids have the tendency to be excessively disposed to learning and neglectful of other extracurricular activities, that is when the situation becomes dire. In other words, they overwork themselves for impossible goals. Furthermore, due to their way of abusing the routine, the other proportions of their life are severely deprived. For instance, they cannot bother to communicate with their peers, they are inadequately exposed to social matters, playing sport is too energy demanding and unbeneficial to study. All of which turn them into naïve eggheads. The worst of all has yet to come. It is the lack of rest that brings about grave concerns. The deteriorating effect is well-known, but their stubbornness does not help at all. Gradually, the body and the mind will be unable to withstand, until they “pop”. Finally, the gifted kids would likely resort to wrongdoings to maintain their position. They live with the mentality to be successful without mistakes and failures. To put it another way, their self-esteem will crumble into dust once they are on the threshold of failing. In order to avoid that, cheating is the way to go. The first time might be frightening, but they will soon get used to it. As a matter of fact, it is either cheating they develop a growing dependence on, or they show reluctance to continue with study and altogether abuse cheating at the expense of their dignity. The aftermath of stress on children born gifted is evident. Every aspect from school life, social life, or even future. Being gifted is truly both a blessing and a curse, but it can, without doubt, be abused to a certain degree, and leave emotional and psychological traumas. Parents are inclined to help their children to achieve their full potentials, which can do more harm than good. It is a necessity that gifted kids be encouraged and free to make their choices, but not at all with being forced to fulfill certain conditions out of their league.