DS5 and I were talking the other day about strengths and weaknesses, in response to his grandpa saying that he(grandpa) was dumb in front of DS. Grandpa is not dumb, he has amazing strengths of information synthesis and a memory that has always made me jealous, but he was never schooly, so to speak. Anyway, I was explaining that grandpa is wonderful at history, could talk for hours on anything he has ever read about it, build anything you need, but might not be so good at basic math or spelling...and that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. This lead to DS listing off his weaknesses, which all happened to be his strengths. He complained that he was terrible in math, science, reading, etc. He wasn't just trying to draw compliments (as some older women I know do). He genuinely felt that because he hasn't succeeded in building any of his inventions (like a robot that will wipe his bum), or because he doesn't know all the math he thinks he ought to know at first glance, he is bad at it.
How do you get a good self image going against this reasoning? Do any of your children think they stink in the subjects they are best at?
We are very laid back, easy-going, non-hard driving parents. So it is not like he would ever get the sense that he isn't measuring up. He just expects mastery and perfection at the get-go.
