As parents, you can use this celebration as an opportunity to raise awareness of gifted children and the importance of high quality gifted education. National Parenting Gifted Children Week creates an occasion for you to reach out to local media to discuss the needs of advanced students and to advocate for gifted and talented education.
Letters To The Editor
The easiest way to get the word out is through a Letter to the Editor to your local paper. We have provided two templates with sample messages, but we strongly recommend that you personalize it to your situation and your community to increase the chance that it will be published.
Letters to the editor offer the opportunity to raise gifted education-related issues after the fact, or the opportunity to reinforce an issue, event, or commentary made earlier in the same newspaper. National Parenting Gifted Children Week is the event about which you are writing while at the same time reminding people about the special needs of gifted children. Keep in mind that administrators, school board members, and legislators all read their local newspapers; many elected officials read all the major newspapers across the state.
Other Ideas to Maximize The Opportunity
- Encourage your state gifted association and local parent groups to publicize their own local or national efforts
- Mention this celebratory week in your next blog, newsletter, or social networking site.
- Contact your local newspaper and suggest using this week as a tie-in for a story about gifted kids in your area.
- Ask the Governor or Mayor to issue a proclamation. Invite elected officials to kick-off a National Parenting Gifted Children Week event by reading the proclamation. Use the public appearance of elected officials as an opportunity to speak about specific initiatives and to thank them for their past support.
- Encourage your local library to set-up an exhibit during NPGCW, where they can display free informational brochures, handouts, and bookmarks, as well as their books about giftedness
- Invite education reporters from your papers to advanced summer programs in your area to “cover” the celebration.
- Forward information about National Parenting Gifted Children week to the “family” reporter at your local paper.
For 25 years, Back to Basics in Wilmington, Nationwide has been recognized as the area’s undisputed leader in one-on-one tutoring. In addition, the firm offers a unique Nationwide private school for grades K-12 and a Private Business and Trade School for adults. Back to Basics is the 2010 Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.
