The Pressures Bright Children Feel

The early environments which foster giftedness in children also make them vulnerable to feeling extreme pressures.

The praise and power which cultivate a positive learning environment may become "too much of a good thing." 

These children may thus internalize highly competitive pressures to be brilliant, perfect, extraordinarily creative, beautiful and/or popular.

The pressures that gifted children internalize can lead to motivation or can cause them to learn defensive avoidance patterns of underachievement.

Families and schools that provide for the needs of gifted children will encourage them to make a commitment to their education and a contribution to society, so they can learn to feel good about their personal accomplishments and about themselves.

Related materials include the AIM-TO test instrument for identification, the book, Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades and What You Can Do About It, the guidebook, Underachievement Syndrome: Causes and Cures, and the tape, Pressures Children Feel and Why They Underachieve

©2008 by Sylvia B. Rimm. All rights reserved. This publication, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.