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"A child's potential can either be developed or obstructed by ... catalysts. If it is obstructed, then the child will remain gifted but will be what we call an underachiever (that is, not talented). If however, the internal and external components of the catalyst enhance and help to develop the child's potenial, the child will become talented and will demonstrate his potential through performance."    ~ Karen Rogers, PhD, Re-forming Gifted Education

In Chapter 2 of Re-forming Gifted Education, "What Kind of Gifted Child Do You Have?", Rogers refers to Gagne's model of gifts and talents. Simply put, a gift is an innate ability or potential; a talent is exceptional performance. Not all gifts become talents. In order to become talented, the innate gift must be developed. This requires certain catalysts to be present at the right time. The individual must be motivated to pursue training to develop the talent through countless hours of practise and exploration. It therefore helps immensely if they are passionate about the field in which they are gifted, at least if they are going to find the experience of talent development pleasurable, something that is fairly essential to sticking with it! This is true whether the gift is athletic, artistic or academic. It also helps if the individual is challenged in the area in which they are gifted and has access to inspiring teachers, mentors or coaches. The right resources and sufficient support and encouragement must also be available. The right combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors must be present, at the right developmental stage, for any gift to develop into a talent. Malcolm Gladwell discusses these essential catalysts in further depth in his best selling examination of greatness and success, Outliers.

As parents concerned about our bright and gifted children, we are sometimes all too aware of this relationship between gifts, or potential, and talent, or accomplishment. Some of the frustration we experience stems from our anxiety over whether or not our child's gifts will be fullly realized, whether the development of their talents will be obstructed or enhanced. At other times, we can be overwhelmed by the multiple gifts which our child displays and wonder how we can ever encourage the development of all of those talents? We may feel responsible for any gifts that become neglected or if our child, despite one or more gifts, fails to display early, exceptional talent in any of them. We may also struggle with attempting to control the direction in which those gifts develop.

We also learn, as our children grow up, that the intrinsic catalysts are at least as important as the external ones. We might prefer that our children develop their musical gift as a classical pianist, but their personality and preferences might naturally incline them towards becoming a talented rock guitarist instead (or vice versa). A natural athletic gift may be innate, but to develop at all excellent coaching and many hours of practise will be required in a particular sport. Which sport that is may depend on physique, geography, coaching availablity, cultural influences and personal preference. Perhaps your naturally gifted athlete will prefer to combine that with artistic creativity and become a talented dancer instead. Surely the same thing occurs with academic and intellectual gifts. Exposure to great math teachers, and external rewards, at the right development stage might spark the passion necessary for a talented mathematician to emerge; continual boredom with routine homework assignments might result in an underachieving math student instead.

The multitude of factors that goes into determining if and how a talented individual emerges is well beyond the control of any single individual, but nonetheless, as parents we all want to be a positive factor in talent development. Sometimes however, to provide the most supportive environment possible, parents may need to ensure that their own personal anxieties and prejudices are not doing more harm than good.

What talents do we value most as a society? Are we influenced by the monetary value that society places on some talents over others? For example, well-paid professional sports, like hockey or tennis, versus less financially rewarding ones, like cross-country skiing or badminton? Similarly is becoming a doctor preferable to becoming a science teacher? Are we overly aware that society generally rewards jobs that require high level math skills with higher salaries than those that do not? Does this influence the expectations and pressures that we place on our children?

Employment security can also figure largely in the plans of parents, though rarely in the minds of children. Does this influence us to discourage a creative, spatially gifted child from developing artistic talents and attempt to encourage an interest in engineering instead? English or music teacher rather than writer or composer? Do we encourage the child who is gifted in both music and science to pursue one more seriously than the other? If so, why?

Do we have a tendency to encourage talent development in areas where early, external recognition is possible through competitions, contests and public performances over talents that may be unlikely to receive awards or develop fully until much later?

As a parent, we can often be torn between recognizing what makes our children happy and what makes us feel proud and secure. As parents of bright and gifted children in particular, we also face the complex task of being an influential catalyst in the development of our children's talents. Along the way to adulthood, many gifts may be recognized (or not) , explored (or not) and developed (or not). One of the greatest challenges we face, at times, is letting go and realizing that ultimately our children will decide which of their gifts they are passionate enough about to develop into talents. And they may change their mind about this several times along the way. Sometimes, the best kind of catalyst a parent can be is one that permits freedom of exploration, encourages eccentricity and nonconformity, and follows wherever their child's interests lead. Whatever you know today about their gifts and strengths, perhaps your child's ultimate accomplishments will be an extraordinary talent that you would never have predicted.

Perhaps being open to the wide and ever-changing world of possiblities is the greatest gift we can give our (hopefully, someday in the future, talented at something) children.