Aug 25 2009
A Fast Start?
We completed our first full week of school last Friday, so on Mondy the parents got scores and information on the first week. Upon looking at my son’s reports, I was not pleased. This is about the third year in a row where we have similar comments from the teacher. Of course this is exactly what I told him to avoid, so naturally he did exactly the opposite of what he was instructed to do by his dear old da.
What we’ve seen is “too talkative and doesn’t always listen/follow directions well.” Now the teacher has formed an impression of my son, an impression I didn’t wish for her to have. So what is a parent to do? Is it time for Ritalin? For as young as my son is, he pretty much despises school, and that is very sad to both his parents because both of us did well in school and liked school. My side of the family includes advanced degree holders, myself included, and both my dad’s parents were school teachers and principals, so theoretically the boy should be well equipped gene-wise for school. But it’s like looking at a mini slacker when I watch him operate. He does the absolute minimum when it comes to his homework, doesn’t have any drive/inclination to learn about new things, and doesn’t seem to care much about shooting for As as opposed to settling for lower grades.
I’m just kind of at wit’s end on what to do. I’ve tried being the nice, encouraging “hippie” parent where nothing he does is wrong/bad/less than great so he’ll have great self esteem. That doesn’t/didn’t work. I’ve tried being the mean parent who takes away play-time after school, television viewing and videogame playing perks. That works to a point, but can’t ban everything for the entire year without leading him up to the bell tower with a rifle later in life. It wouldn’t be so bad if I saw new and different things each year, but I see the same things over and over. I can’t do much about the talking in class; I feel like that’s the teacher’s domain and I feel for her because she has 28 kids in class to teach/control, which would be enough to make me catatonic if I had to face that every day. I can’t really even do much about the paying attention. He gets a good enough diet, plenty of sleep, and we really don’t let the kids watch much during school days. Other than having him tested for ADD, which I don’t believe he has, not much else I can do. But then I see the schoolwork and he makes the same mistakes all the time. He lost points on several assignments this past week because he didn’t follow the directions. He turned in assignments late twice, so lost points there as well. I look at his homework every day and try to make sure he’s doing what he needs to be doing. The trouble is the student’s write down their homework, so not only do I have to decipher his writing, but I then have to figure out whether he’s really doing what he’s supposed to be doing.
Oh well, I guess we just keep monitoring the situation and make sure it gets better and not worse. Personally, I hoping for a bolt of lightening on his heinie that finally kicks him into gear. We’ll see.
