Bizarre conversation with my mother #1,738

Her: Is K excited about starting kindergarten in the fall?

Me: Actually, he's a little anxious because he won't know anybody. This summer I'm going to try to meet --

Her: You should put him in a summer camp for kids with high IQs, like a Harvard summer program.

Me: What?? Why? And I don't think Harvard has --

Her: We sent you to a gifted school for kindergarten and you loved it, but then we took you out because it was too much money.

Me: Yes, I know. But K is anxious about not knowing anyone. Why would I pull him out of his school where he has lots of friends and send him somewhere new where he doesn't know anyone, and THEN send him to kindergarten?

Her: K doesn't have any friends right now because he's smarter than all the other kids, but at a program for kids with high IQs, he would have friends because he would be able to relate to the other kids.

Me: ... ??? K has plenty of friends. He's just worried that in his new school --

Her: Oh, so all the kids in his class are so smart?

Me: Sure, they seem smart. I don't know, they're 5. I don't think it really matters to them who --

Her: I don't think they're as smart as K. The reason K is not social is that he can't relate to the other kids. That's why he doesn't have any friends.

Me: Why do you keep saying he's not social and doesn't have any friends?? He has plenty of friends!

Her: No, I don't think so.

Me: Come visit some time and drop him off at school, and watch every kid in his class yell his name and run over. I promise you, he is happy and social. He is fine.

Her: Really? Okay, if you say so... But think about sending him to a program for kids with high IQs.

I get that grandparents think their grandkids can do no wrong, but I'm not sure where this idea came from that K is an anti-social super-genius whose every word soars above the heads of his dimwitted classmates. K is a bright kid, but he spends half the day with his finger up his nose and the other half running around making shooting noises. I don't think he has a problem relating to other kids his age.

My mom makes up the weirdest stories and convinces herself that they're true. Like, before X was born a couple of people said to me, "I know how disappointed you were that you're not having a girl. Your mom told me you cried!" Eh? I remember when my brother and I first compared notes and realized our mother had basically been telling us completely made-up stories about each other that we each assumed were true. Now whenever my mom tells me something about what someone else is thinking or why they did something, I assume it's maybe 20% true.