We didn't skip our DD in sixth grade because she said no. She was miserable for the whole year. Kids are still kids and as much as they understand skipping, DD had already done it once, they can't always see all the consequences. Neither can adults so not unexpected.
The point is to consider all options and have a back up plan. Skipping isn't the answer for every kid or in every situation but I am now wary of DD being negative about options because she fears change. We then have to work harder to ensure she can see both the positives and negatives of both sides to an option. Debating has helped actually.
I have another one that tends to fear change-- and wants ALL of the data (sometimes irrational, that, since it isn't always available without a crystal ball).
She also tends (on the other side of things) to see only positive aspects to change once she is onboard with it, and then minor setbacks (often things which can be anticipated, even) tend to seem like epic failure to her.
She only once "blamed" her gradeskips for feelings of social difficulty in secondary-- and when I asked her what we should have done
instead, then, she quickly backpedaled. She didn't REALLY mean that she'd rather be a seventh grader than a junior in high school at the time. Not really. How did she phrase it?
Oh yes-- "Before I answer that, do you know how a wild animal might chew off its own leg to escape from a trap? Well, that's probably what 7th grade would feel like to me at the moment. Yes-- academically, of course. It would be intolerable there. But socially it would also be awful. Have you SEEN how they act??"
I think that was a vote from my then-13yo in favor of "thanks, but being an 11th grader might suck a little bit, and occasionally more than that, but it's definitely not the worst option."
Letting go of thinking in terms of
perfect educational solutions was really key for us as a family in meeting DD's needs reasonably well. We weren't going to get perfect. The real question was whether or not it was a
good-enough solution.
