Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy "I don't like school."

I actually get more out of DD6 when I ask her to explain what she does like about school. When she is saying she doesn't like school she can't figure out a way to explain it either, but when asked what she does like I have been able to narrow the options down as to what the real problem is.
For example, the last time she was complaining about school we went through a list of people/subjects she has and asked if she liked each one, and if yes how much. (1 = they are ok, don't really like or dislike, up to 5 = love them) When I asked her about her teacher she scored low, so I asked her to explain what parts of the teacher were making the score low and what parts would she score higher on. It was very interesting because it basically came down to 2 little things that the teacher does that bother DD. We talked about why the teacher would do those things and how DD could better deal with them and since then we have rarely heard she doesn't like school.

You could also try asking if his dislike for school is like his dislike for a food he hates or if it is like the dislike of having to go food shopping with you, or some other things that he really doesn't like and things that just annoy him because they are boring.

Good luck. We are currently in a "good school" phase, but could fall back to where you are any day.