zlacker

>>i7l+(OP)
As someone who was not a child prodigy, but still closer to one than to normies, I can say that achieving results easily in childhood leads to not developing good discipline and persistence that are crucial in the adult world.

There are more factors that are not easily accessible for both ends of the spectrum, like access to good, personalized education, amount of trauma, and proper psychological support. But the 'discipline' part is what affected me most.

On the other side, maybe those who are more disciplined become real prodigies, and burn brightly because of the lack of social knowledge on how to support them and help to become highly developed adults.

>>nvch+rc
This observation about discipline is perceptive but I have also seen variations of it dozens and dozens of times on HN.

Tons of former gifted kids on here. The gap between assumed potential and actual reality apparently has to get blamed on someone, and that person is the kid themselves.

FWIW I do it too.

>>sherma+fe
All parts seem true to me. Most kids think they were more gifted than they were. Learning to work hard and be persistent was actually more important. A lot of talk about being gifted was an obstacle to that.

>>ground+8j
We try to praise hard work and downplay the yer so smart talk. I still had get excited when they are lazy smart though.