Oy vey.
Okay, I DO have a 'gifted' kiddo (part and parcel with his being ADHD).
No. Most people don't have gifted kids. They have bright kids, who are ahead of a slow poke curriculum.
Gifted is a crappy name for a brain disorder, in my not so humble opinion. Lots of kids are bright. Most kids are smart. The term 'gifted' makes it seem like something to aspire to.
I remember a turning point when I moved here when my son was in K. Occasionally one DOES move to an area where there are a lot of gifted kids around (usually near gifted schools, people move, because gifted kids usually can't handle regular school very well... like a deaf kid, or blind kid, or autistic kid. ALL these kids CAN go to a regular school, and some schools are even phenom for them, but most schools fail them completely). I thought I'd stumbled into a little nexus on accident when all of a sudden every parent at the park was talking about their gifted kids.
Nope.
Now, my son isn't a genius (thank god. I have 3 in my family and that's a true curse), and he's not profoundly gifted, nor even highly gifted (like ASD giftedness is a spectrum). He's on the lower range of gifted. But I thought to myself "Great! No more having to 'hide'!!!"
Nope.
These were people, who thought giftedness is a thing to aspire to. Their perfectly normal, lovely, children were fantastic. But they weren't gifted. Yes. They knew their letters and numbers as preschoolers. They weren't reading and doing arithmatic. Yes they were building bridges with their blocks. They weren't disconnecting the power to the fridge to make their bridges move.
Gifted Parents don't ask "How did you get them to _________?"
Gifted Parents ask "How did you DEAL with them doing ________?"
Giftedness very rarely presents singularly, although it does happen. There ARE gifted kids who aren't "twice exceptional" / "2e". But the majority, come to find, are 2e. We're talking ADHD kids, Aspie kids, dyslexics, dysgraphics, SPD, etc.
Giftedness is a brain disorder where the brain processess and stores information differently than most people. When the brain processes and stores information differently, it usually doesn't JUST do it with learning/academics but with a whole host of other things as well. Even if a kid is "just" straight gifted, that processing and storing information differently affects a whole HOST of cognitive and emotional areas. Milestones are COMPLETELY off. "Asynchronistic Development" becomes a HUGE problem.
These kids struggle.
Because they're not just SMART (in fact, a lot really aren't "smart" at all), smart is GREAT. Most kids are smart, or have the ability to be smart given the proper guidence/ love/ attention.
It's a crappy name, 'gifted'.
It makes it seem like something want (hey, who doesn't want a gift?), instead of just something that IS.
There are GREAT things about being gifted. There are also GREAT things about being; ADHD, Dyslexic, Dysgraphic, Autistic, Bipolar... pick a brain disorder, any brain disorder.
BUT each brain disorder comes with an equal if not greater set of challenges, struggles, and problems.
If people with bright kids knew even half of the struggles that come along with being 'gifted' it's nothing they would ever want for their child.