Gifted Child

I came up to our preschool classroom with my guitar, just in time to do Circle. The children were filing out the door to line up and greet one of the teachers. All except for Ryan. I found him in the block corner, where he'd taken all the blocks off the shelves, all the plastic animals from the cabinet, all the little metal cars and fire engines, and made a giant Highway, a great circle, a Mandala, for you Jungians, and he sat in the middle of it, self-satisfied on his knees, and it appeared to me he'd harnessed all the primitive power of the jungle and all the power of the machine age and had them lined up to do his bidding along the circular Highway of Life, which he could reach any point of from his place in the center. And I told him to 'clean it up'. Shame, shame (but there wasn't time!) and as he usually does, he squealed, 'Noooo! ' (and I didn't have my camera, either!) which really is a problem, his thinking he's always right, (I thought about leaving the whole magic thing up, but the other kids would never have come to Circle) . A couple weeks ago, I had a dream of Ryan, draining all his family's energy and attention with his need so there was none left for his sister, and all he wanted in the dream was to go to Berkeley, to a park, and join an acting/tai-chi class there, and in the dream I took him and then he was fine, immediately got immersed in the class. 'Gifted' children can be so difficult, I used to be one, and I hope I can make it up to Ryan (without giving carte-blanche to the little tyrant in him) and start validating his gifts in a more empowering way than mine were.