I had the opportunity to attend a prescreening for the movie Gifted.  I had been seeing the trailer for this movie for some time and was worried about how gifted children and their families would be portrayed.  The trailer makes it clear that the child’s uncle is very concerned that she have a “normal childhood.”  As I have said before, those of us who live with gifted kids are repeatedly astonished with their abilities, those without constant exposure find them unbelievable and are often certain that their parents play a huge role in their abilities.

Well I am happy to say that I found the movie enjoyable and not offensive. I think the challenges faced by the characters are representative of those faced by many gifted families. My one concern is that the little girl is more than just gifted, doing calculus as a seven-year-old; she is a math prodigy. So the academic issues are much more extreme than those faced by the vast majority of us.  I wish they had called the movie Prodigy instead. The little girl also does not face many of the other intensities we often see in gifted children. At any rate if you have an Aunt Thelma who always makes snipey remarks about how you raise your gifted child, she will get little ammunition from this movie.