Written by Melanie Harsch MSW, LCSW, RSW, Registered Social Worker - March 2026

After school you lovingly ask about your child’s day and within minutes, there are tears or angry outbursts. Or maybe at your house your child gets silly and wild, or the opposite, becoming clingy and following you everywhere. Parents around the globe have reported children slamming down backpacks, crashing off furniture, becoming easily frustrated with their siblings, or teens hiding in their bedrooms. One mom imaginatively described her child, “She uses so much energy for self-control at school, coming home is like popping the lid off a vigorously shaken bottle of fizzy pop.

Parents of bright and gifted children have shared the following suggestions that others who are parenting bright children may find helpful. (Most of them are of value for all children.)

Written by Barbara Lazarou, Legislative Liaison, ABC Ontario - February 2026

Question:
My child has been identified as gifted, but they’re struggling in school academically, emotionally, or both. Isn’t giftedness supposed to make things easier?

Parents/guardians must be recognized as full, active and equal partners in the educational planning for their child.

Abilities and needs of pupils should be identified in consultation with parents/guardians during the Early and Ongoing Identification Procedures of the local school board. Program modifications should be initiated in the classroom, prior to formal identification.

If program modifications are deemed to be insufficient by the parent/guardian or teacher, formal identification of a pupil as exceptional will be necessary and special education programs and services must be provided.

Written by Jessica Miklos, Chapter Executive, ABC Toronto - February 2026

Gifted students have a tendency towards perfectionism and impossibly high internal standards. They don't need the adults in their lives to point out that there are bigger mountains than the ones that they are currently climbing. They know. They have a list. And they are often telling themselves that the only definition of success is to climb the highest mountain, and to do it in a way that has never been done before. Perfectionism and burnout are significant risks in the gifted population. And those can be paralysing.