You're smart

Telling a child, "you're smart" might be the wrong thing to say. From the front of gifted classroom I see a lot of kids that have been told they are smart their whole life, and they are. The troublesome thing, however, is when the "smartness" is an identity. This role in life creates a couple of problems.

kids treat knowledge more like currency and less like revelation
kids are afraid of curriculum because it has power to rip away their sense of self
kids miss the opportunity to be genuinely curious

Even though I didn't always listen, my parents taught me to enjoy knowledge - not to become it. This is truly human.