Our child has been accused of bragging at school. He is very offended by the word and begins to cry. He feels there's an assumption of motive behind his telling the kids how smart he is-one of, "I'm a better person than you." However, when we talked in-depth with him about
why he felt the need to actually
say he's a smart kid, he says he wants the kids to know
who he is, and that a lot of the time he feels invisible. We've been told he needs to
learn to interact better within the interests of typical kids around him and to zip up about his academic achievement if he's to get along. So far, that seems to be difficult for him because his interests
center in "academic" activity.
We are concerned he's feeling intellectually isolated, and will begin to shut down altogether when it comes to social interaction. Finding real peers is essential, and we are trying to do that, but because we are in a small town an hour from the nearest large city, most activities that attract kids like him are not very accessible...that is if they will even admit him because of his age (7).
I suggest trying to find the true reason your child feels the need to "brag". My guess is he is just conveying to new acquaintances what interests him, much as a typical kid would "brag" about what a great ball player he is, or their best score on a video game, etc.
In the meantime, I try to keep in mind that our son is
developing social maturity, and is behind the curve.
