My daughter, Lainey, LOVES helping my husband with jobs around the house. Once while helping change the oil, she came out fully dressed in her pink danger costume (Shelby from Dino Charge). At my new point in the process, my husband complimented her, "Great job, Lainey!". She quickly corrected him pointing to her costume and said, "um, Shelby."
If we are home, my daughter is in costume or at least character. It's adorable, but we always have to remember to call her by the persona she is taking on. When this girl engages in imaginational play, she commits. She won't even respond to her real name on accident! This acting spills over into the classroom and her teachers have shared many stories of Lainey's imagination at work
The imaginational overexcitability (OE) is one of my favorites because of the joy and whimsy it brings to the house. However, it does have it's down sides as well. My son has displayed the dark side when he comes down the stairs at night terrified our house will be struck by a tornado, even though these natural disasters hit our region in Ohio about once a century.
This OE is exactly as it sounds. Intense imagination that sometimes cause gifted kids to imagine the worse case scenario. Some signs of this OE include:
*Intense imaginational play.
*Daydreaming
*Love of magic and fantasy
*Intense fears
*Vivid dreams
*Love of the arts
*Fantastic sense of humor
If this sounds like your child or student, there are many simple things you can do to turn this OE into a true gift.
*Show empathy towards the child. While I could say with 100% certainty that a tornado would not strike our house in mid January, it was real to my son. Acknowledge the fear and allow your child to discuss this fear from his perspective.
*Provide strategies to combat the fear. "Tornado season in Ohio is from April to June. It is highly unlikely one will come through our neighborhood tonight. Also, it's been about 15 years since the last tornado touched down near us." "That was a scary dream, how do you think our dog would have reacted? How would your zainey sister react? How would Batman react?" Help your child to see the silly side of the fear, remember how Harry Potter handled the boggart? Younger children might need to combat their imagination with imagination. "Did you know your blanket had magical powers? Your dreams can't hurt you while you are under it." If your family practices a religion, this is a great time to introduce the power of prayer.
*Help your child to distinguish between their imagination and reality. Then allow them to explore their imagination in a creative way.
*Provide plenty of time to play.
*Encourage children to explore their imagination. Introduce good research strategies then allow your child to "go down the rabbit hole" as they learn and explore their ideas.
When my daughter was in preschool, her teacher stopped me during car line to share this adorable story:
Lainey loves her teachers. During a group activity, the class was sitting in a circle on the floor and Lainey wanted to lay across her teacher during the lesson. The teacher politely asked her to get off because she was in her "personal bubble". Lainey took one look at the "bubble" then stuck her finger out and said "Pop!" then proceeded to lay across the teacher. I could fill a book with my daughter's imagination, and that's just what she's shared with us or her teachers. Her sense of humor is beyond other kids her age. She's the child who laughs at the teacher's joke when the rest of the class doesn't get it. Enjoy and embrace this OE! Who knows, maybe you're raising a future best selling fiction author.
No comments:
Post a Comment