Sharon Duncan

The Parent Journey

We talk about raising gifted children. We talk about educating gifted children. We talk about how giftedness and 2e impacts them both at home and during school. We even talk about adult giftedness. But what we rarely discuss, is the impact this complex parenting journey has on parents themselves. The daily joys and challenges, the never ending pride and worry, the feelings of isolation as you realize that your path is foreign to many around you. Some parents even feel guilty entertaining the subject as if doing so is somehow selfish. However, the truth is the emotional landscape for parents of gifted and 2e children is vast. Days are filled with advocating, planning, preempting meltdowns, decoding behaviors that might be masking something deeper while trying to appear calm, capable, and "normal" to the outside world. Then there’s the social layer. The isolation that comes from feeling like you have to explain or justify your child’s needs to teachers, family, and friends. That feeling of defensiveness when your child’s struggles are misunderstood as parenting failures, or when their strengths are mistaken for privilege or arrogance. You're not just raising a child; you're navigating an intense, unpredictable terrain where the standard parenting books and developmental models do not apply. Despite these challenges, YOU are uniquely qualified to navigate the parenting journey you are on, and the great news is you are not alone. In this session, we will discuss the impact parenting gifted children has on parents as well as tips and tricks of celebrating and surviving your grand adventure. You've got this! (even if it doesn't always feel like it)

I hope parents will walk away knowing:

• They are not alone

• They are uniquely qualified to raise their children

• Tips and tricks for surviving the hard parts and celebrating the good parts of their parenting journey

Co-Founder Gifted Identity, and Gifted Research and Outreach Inc., Sharon Duncan is an independent consultant. She works with parents, educators, schools, districts, psychologists and pediatricians to help them understand and meet the social, emotional and educational needs of gifted and twice exceptional (2e) children. Sharon works with parents and educators to help them better understand the common traits and behaviors of gifted children, provides guidance to parents about educational decisions and options (including setting up and managing homeschool), advocates for the needs of these children at public and private schools, provides training to educators so that they can practice their craft more effectively, and teams with parents and educators to find solutions to the often counter-intuitive challenges encountered by these very complex children. Prior to her work with Gifted Identity, Sharon spent 26 years working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has served on the governing boards of both public and private schools, and is an internationally recognized speaker on a wide variety of topics about gifted children. She and a partner are completing a research study of identify formation in the parents of gifted children.