Parenting is a very important influence on the development of children, both in the physical and cognitive aspects. According to Campbell, parenting influences the child’s social development (1997). There are several challenges, which are even multiple in the parenting of gifted children. Some scales and scoring systems have been developed to evaluate the parenting of normal children together with those that have cognitive and behavior issues (McGuffog, 1985, p. 723; Chamberlain, & Reid, 1987). Significant work has, however, not been done in the development of a similar scale and score for parenting gifted children (Karnes, Schwedel, & Sternberg, 1984; Collett, et al., 2001). It is in such a light that my team members set out to develop a detailed ‘parenting gifted children successfully score’ (PGCSS) for use by parents and other parties that could be interested in this line of research.
The parenting gifted children successfully score has components that have been developed over several years. Some of them are used to assess and score successful parenting for other types of children (Budd, & Heilman, 1992). The development of any parenting scale needs to capture the necessary details while at the same time being easy enough so that parents can successfully score themselves. The PGCSS constitutes six items that a parent can assess to evaluate the accomplishment of their parenting skills for gifted children. Each of these aspects has a set of questions and scenarios where parents can assess themselves.
The first of these items is the performance of the child at home together with how parents react to the performance (Gleason, 1988, p. 21). For this part, the parents get to fill the gap in the statement, ‘when my child performs well at school I usually…’ The choices are then provided, with marks being awarded for each of the responses ranging from 0 to a maximum of 5. The next part tests the punishment instituted to children when they misbehave (Campbell, 1997). Five responses are also provided here, with the worst of them being awarded a zero while the most favorable is 5. The next part covers the time of response that parents institute punishment after the children misbehave. The same scale is provided with the most favorable outcome being 5.
Parents also get to assess the support that they give to the gifted children through the measure of the assistance that they give to their children in doing their homework (Fimian, 1989, p. 140). The other part captures the support that the parents give to their children in terms of their future careers. The scale asks parents to scale the assistance they give to children when they develop an interest in certain activities of their choice (Shelton, Frick, & Wootton, 1996). The next part is also related to the parenting support of their children. This part ranks the assistance and correction that gifted children get from their children once they make a poor decision concerning their life and career.
The worst possible score for successful parenting is zero, with the best possible scores for parenting on this scale being 30. The non-cognitive aspects of the model include the measurement of the assistance that parents give to children in the making of their careers together with the reactions they give when the children behave badly.
References
Budd, S., & Heilman, N. (1992). Review of the dyadic adjustment scale: The eleventh mental measurements yearbook (pp. 296–299). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Campbell, B. (1997). Behavior problems in preschool children: Developmental and family issues. Advances in Clinical Child Psychology, 19(1), 1–26.
Chamberlain, P., & Reid, B. (1987). Parent observation and report of child symptoms. Behavioral Assessment, 9(2), 97–109.
Collett, R., Gimpel, A., Greenson, N., & Gunderson, L. (2001). Assessment of discipline styles among parents of preschool through school-age children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 23(1), 163–170.
Fimian, J. (1989). Measure of classroom stress and burnout among gifted and talented students. Psychology in the Schools, 26(3), 139-53.
Gleason, J. (1988). Spotting the camouflaged gifted student. Gifted Child Today, 11(2), 21-22.
Karnes, M., Schwedel, A., & Sternberg, D. (1984). Styles of parenting among parents of young gifted children. Roeper Review, 6(1), 232-235.
McGuffog, C. (1985). Problems of the gifted child. Pediatric Annals, 14(719), 723-724.
Shelton, K., Frick, J., & Wootton, J. (1996). Assessment of parenting practices in families of elementary school-age children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25(4), 317–329.