{"id":532,"date":"2015-09-27T14:44:53","date_gmt":"2015-09-27T21:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/?p=532"},"modified":"2016-05-17T18:17:12","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T01:17:12","slug":"not-ashamed-precocious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Ashamed: Precocious"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already, please read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/na\/na-intro.php\">introduction post<\/a>. That will give you context for this page.<\/p>\n<hr width=\"50%\" \/>\n<p>I was able to read at a bit of an early age. And one of the things that often happens to kids who read above their expected level is that their ability to read outstrips their vocabulary. Now, fortunately, I was able to figure out a lot of things from context. I quickly extended that skill to being able to figure what word likely meant when spoken, not just when printed.<\/p>\n<p>I used big words earlier than expected. I developed big thoughts earlier, and I was too young to know to keep my mouth shut (whether it was to protect someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pride or spare them a hard truth).<\/p>\n<p>So, little person&#8230;big thoughts without the usual, learned filters and social niceties&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I heard the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot. And I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really sure what it meant, but the tone and context let me know that it was a bad thing to be. And I was so used to working from context (and sort of loathing finding out what this horrible, shameful thing was that I was) that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to look the word up. I was going to just feel ashamed and try to figure out which thing I was doing that was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d so that I could stop it. I could at least be smart enough to figure it out from context; that should balance out my shame, right? (Yeah, I know, pat wee-me on the head.)<\/p>\n<p>Just in case you have somehow never heard the word before, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just going to copy in a definition for you:<\/p>\n<p><strong>precocious (adj.)<\/strong> unusually advanced or mature in development, especially mental development (example: <em>a precocious child<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>Right. Do I even need to explain why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not at all ashamed of that label? If anything, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a bit ashamed that, in this adult world, I am certainly anything but precocious.<\/p>\n<p>And what I really want to say here is this: Yeah, a kid whose brainpower is ahead of their social skills (aka doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know when not to speak smart truths that might upset adults) can be more difficult than your kid whose brain is like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d expect. But don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you ever shame them for that, not even just by saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a negative tone. Intelligence is a brilliant resource. You just help them develop the social skills or the sense to equal that brainpower.<\/p>\n<p>No worries, precocious kids. That brain could serve you well.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/na\/na-precocious.php\" target=\"_blank\">Cross-posted<\/a> to the Not Ashamed section of my site (so that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all tidy).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already, please read the introduction post. That will give you context for this page. I was able to read at a bit of an early age. And one of the things that often happens to kids who read above their expected level is that their ability to read outstrips their vocabulary. Now, fortunately, I was able to figure out a lot of things from context. I quickly extended that skill to being able to figure what word likely meant when spoken, not just when printed. I used big words earlier than expected. I developed big thoughts earlier, and I was too young to know to keep my mouth shut (whether it was to protect someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pride or spare them a hard truth). So, little person&#8230;big thoughts without the usual, learned filters and social niceties&#8230; I heard the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot. And I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really sure what it meant, but the tone and context let me know that it was a bad thing to be. And I was so used to working from context (and sort of loathing finding out what this horrible, shameful thing was that I was) that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to look the word [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-not-ashamed"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already, please read the introduction post. That will give you context for this page. I was able to read at a bit of an early age. And one of the things that often happens to kids who read above their expected level is that their ability to read outstrips their vocabulary. Now, fortunately, I was able to figure out a lot of things from context. I quickly extended that skill to being able to figure what word likely meant when spoken, not just when printed. I used big words earlier than expected. I developed big thoughts earlier, and I was too young to know to keep my mouth shut (whether it was to protect someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pride or spare them a hard truth). So, little person&#8230;big thoughts without the usual, learned filters and social niceties&#8230; I heard the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot. And I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really sure what it meant, but the tone and context let me know that it was a bad thing to be. And I was so used to working from context (and sort of loathing finding out what this horrible, shameful thing was that I was) that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to look the word [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Amber Bird | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmberBirdOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmberBirdOfficial\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/AmberBird_fromPF_portraitSQ.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1324\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1324\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@varnishcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@varnishcentral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"amber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"amber\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f\"},\"headline\":\"Not Ashamed: Precocious\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":448,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f\"},\"articleSection\":[\"history\",\"not ashamed\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/\",\"name\":\"Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/2015\\\/09\\\/27\\\/not-ashamed-precocious\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Not Ashamed: Precocious\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Amber Bird | Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.amberbird.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f\",\"name\":\"amber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"amber\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r\"},\"description\":\"Amber Bird is...A writer, a rockstar, and a sci-fi simulacrum...The author of the Peaceforger books (gripping near-future sci-fi), a published poet, the front of post-punk\\\/post-glam band Varnish, and half of transatlantic Autistic musical duo The Companions...An Autistic introvert, an idealist, a geek, and a dreamer who was (and still is) saved by others\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 art and is trying to return the favor...A lapsed actor and, yes, the model for that Magic card.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.varnishcentral.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmberBirdOfficial\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/scifiamber\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/varnishcentral\",\"http:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/amberbirdofficial\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog","og_description":"If you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already, please read the introduction post. That will give you context for this page. I was able to read at a bit of an early age. And one of the things that often happens to kids who read above their expected level is that their ability to read outstrips their vocabulary. Now, fortunately, I was able to figure out a lot of things from context. I quickly extended that skill to being able to figure what word likely meant when spoken, not just when printed. I used big words earlier than expected. I developed big thoughts earlier, and I was too young to know to keep my mouth shut (whether it was to protect someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pride or spare them a hard truth). So, little person&#8230;big thoughts without the usual, learned filters and social niceties&#8230; I heard the word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153precocious\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a lot. And I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really sure what it meant, but the tone and context let me know that it was a bad thing to be. And I was so used to working from context (and sort of loathing finding out what this horrible, shameful thing was that I was) that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to look the word [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/","og_site_name":"Amber Bird | Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmberBirdOfficial\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmberBirdOfficial\/","article_published_time":"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1324,"height":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/AmberBird_fromPF_portraitSQ.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"amber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@varnishcentral","twitter_site":"@varnishcentral","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"amber","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/"},"author":{"name":"amber","@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f"},"headline":"Not Ashamed: Precocious","datePublished":"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/"},"wordCount":448,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f"},"articleSection":["history","not ashamed"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/","url":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/","name":"Not Ashamed: Precocious - Amber Bird | Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-09-27T21:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2016-05-18T01:17:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/27\/not-ashamed-precocious\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Not Ashamed: Precocious"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/","name":"Amber Bird | Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9cda509e2d397ea9b1d9bf39ef88b58f","name":"amber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"amber"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8eb6975c30ae69765b20d823b5823ec939ef0b65b4f5f2c5b1d88da86b4d877d?s=96&d=mm&r=r"},"description":"Amber Bird is...A writer, a rockstar, and a sci-fi simulacrum...The author of the Peaceforger books (gripping near-future sci-fi), a published poet, the front of post-punk\/post-glam band Varnish, and half of transatlantic Autistic musical duo The Companions...An Autistic introvert, an idealist, a geek, and a dreamer who was (and still is) saved by others\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 art and is trying to return the favor...A lapsed actor and, yes, the model for that Magic card.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.varnishcentral.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmberBirdOfficial\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/scifiamber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/varnishcentral","http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/amberbirdofficial"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amberbird.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}