Two Moms at the Pool

I try to avoid angry diatribes, but there are times when nothing else will do.
To the Two Moms at the Pool Discussing Your Gifted Children:

I am sorry to have eavesdropped on your conversation. I mean that. I really wish I had not overheard it, but you were in the lounge chairs next to me and I had no choice. For reasons described below, I decided against publicly chastising you, so here are the things I would have (should have?) said.

1. Re-think the meaning of the word "gifted" and how you use it. I believe all children are a gift to us and each have their own gifts to offer. I'm guessing your meaning of "gifted" is that your child earns high grades and excels at everything he or she does. Your conversation indicated as much. That would describe the majority of the children in this affluent community. It's likely that yours are not significantly smarter than most of their classmates. If your children are, as you claim, gifted, why wouldn't they be? They are white and upper middle class. They get at least three nutritious (possibly organic) meals every day, plus the snacks you tote to all of their activities. They have premium medical care. They are chauffered to violin, tennis, gymnastics, private tutoring, etc. in safe, air-conditioned gas-guzzling vehicles with proper safety restraints. You yourself are college-educated and provide every enrichment that money can buy. You have stayed home with them full-time since they were born. It's kind of hard not to excel in a situation in which . . .

2. . . .being "gifted" is a problem?? Your conversation was a general complaint about how difficult it is to procure an educational program worthy of your gifted child. If that issue is worth wasting breath and brain cells on, then I would suggest you get something resembling a life. That may involve educating yourself about actual issues that present problems for actual humans.

3. Before you make the statement "If only the district spent as much money on our kids as those special needs kids", look around. Make sure you are completely alone or that no one can hear you. Some people might find your statement extremely offensive. You clearly know nothing about having a "special needs" child. You have no clue how much money the district spends on a special needs child. I don't even know that. It isn't relevant to your complaint. Your statement indicates that you believe your child needs as much help as my child does. I don't know whether to laugh or cry about that. I decided not to break all this down for you publicly because my kids were with me and I just didn't have the energy to explain ignorance and self-absorption on that level. Also, I might have come off as crazy. So I'll have to vent in this forum that you'll never see because it's for all those expensive special needs kids who take money away from your poor, suffering gifted kid, whom I'm sure will end up curing cancer or maybe the dreaded autism.

4. Kiss my ass.