On the subject of gifted children, don't praise kids for being smart. Praise them for working hard or for participating in activities that will make them smarter, but not for being, intrinsically, smart.
Though at some moment you should admit they are smart, or at least not actively deny it, otherwise they will have an incorrect model of the world.
As an extreme example, if a person with IQ 200 believes that intelligence does not exist and all that matters is the hard work, it may motivate them to work hard, which is great, but it may also make them believe that all other people are simply not trying if they can't do even such simple things as winning a Nobel price. This can make them have unrealistic expectations of less intelligent people, or even make th...
Although my 8-year-old son likes his teacher, he is frequently bored at school. He attends a high quality suburban public school in the United States. He has a lot of traits in common with LessWrong readers, and we would like advice for what he can do to counter his boredom. Many of you must have found grade school more or less tedious. What were your coping strategies?