Teaching Kids About Giftedness: A Look at a Few Success Secrets with Christine Fonseca

I have the pleasure this month to host a stop on Christine Fonseca's blog tour for her newly released book- 101 Success Secrets For Gifted Kids.  I'm so excited to be participating because it is the first gifted kids handbook, in my opinion, that truly explains what giftedness is and doesn't just give kids a list of characteristics which may or may not "fit" who they are.  Even though it is suggested for ages 8-12, I found my adult self getting so many helpful pieces of advice, particularly the hula hoop technique, which I'll let Christine explain.  So without further ado, here is Christine Fonseca's guest post!

Thanks, Monica, for hosting this leg of the tour. Monica asked me to talk a bit about the success secrets in the first two chapters of 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids - the ones the help kids understand what it means to be gifted.

Perfect! These are some of my favorite tips.

I am a firm believer in teaching both kids and adults to fully embrace everything it means to be gifted – the good, the bad, and the stressful. Towards that end, the first twenty tips or so are all about understanding and accepting everything it means to be gifted.

Here are a few of my favorites from the opening chapters (you can preview the opening chapters on the Prufrock website (chapter 1) and on my site (chapter 2)

·         Giftedness isn’t something you choose. It’s how you are

       hardwired.

·         Not all gifted kids are high achievers.

·         Embrace your giftedness.

·         Your brain can lie to you.

·         The only thing you can really control is you.

·         Remember to take care of yourself.

·         Believe in yourself.

Some of these tips include specific strategies to help kids learn and use the success secret. A couple of my favorites – Tips for  Reaching Your Potential (part of Embrace your Giftedness) and the Hula Hoop Technique (Part of The Only Thing you can really Control Is You).

In the Tips for Reaching Your Potential, kids are reminded to learn all about themselves, even the parts that they don’t like so much. They are also taught ways to broaden their life experiences and embracing all it means to be gifted. Things like doing something creative every day, and making an effort to learn something new are fabulous ways to come closer to reaching your true potential.

The Hula Hoop technique is one of my true favorites. With this strategy, kids are given a visual way to separate the things they can control – their feelings, thoughts, and actions, from the things they cannot control – everything else. This technique is about learning to discern how we feel about things, and focusing only on that which we can control is very empowering for kids and comes up over and over through the various tips in the book.

My goal for 101 Success Secrets for Gifted Kids was perfectly summarized in a recent review:

101 Success Secrets is full of the secrets we've been meaning to tell our kids, and trying to tell our kids, and hoping to tell our kids!

~ Carolyn K (Mrs. Hoagie)

It is sincerely my hope that the book opens up the lines of communication between parents, teachers and kids and helps our youth reach their potential!

Thanks Monica, for letting me share a few of the tips that makes this book so special to me.

Thank you Christine for writing such a powerful book for gifted children and the adults in their lives!  Every page is filled with helpful advice, tips, and suggestions for gifted kids and you can win a free signed copy of 101 Success Secrets For Gifted Kids by leaving a comment and your e-mail addy below.  The contest ends Tues., May 17th, 10pm EST when the winner will be chosen randomly (name in hat type, I'm not up on the computer random selector stuff) and announced on Wed., May 18th.  I'll also share some more of my favorite secrets from Christine's book (perhaps even having my 10 yr. old son write some). 

In the meantime, please visit Christine Fonseca online at her following links:

Website

Blog

Find me on Facebook or Twitter
Order the book.
Read an excerpt here.















Thanks for reading,
Monica