Today was DS6's second day of school and he has said that he is really happy and things are going great (of course it is the 2nd day of school). His school is working with him and he is already one grade accelerated and subject accelerated beyond that. In a week they are putting him in a 4th grade math class (and are going to transport him to another school to make this work). Like I said, they have been amazing and he loves his math coordinator and teacher and has seemed to love going to school. Anyhow, so today he took a math puzzle book on the bus to work on and he had been begging me to bring it since he has a 30 minute commute. It is geared towards 5th - 7th graders. When I talked with him after school he said that he had worked on the book but he didn't want others to see it. He wouldn't say much more. So at bedtime I kind of brought it up again to ask about what would make him feel like he needed to hide it. He didn't answer so I just told him that I don't ever feel like he needs to hide what he likes or what he is interested in and that he shouldn't feel like he is different because he likes those things. He then started to get a little teary and started talking about feeling different, and feeling like he doesn't fit in, and feeling like there is no one out there like him, and feeling lonely and unsure of what to say to other kids, and feeling like he doesn't belong in 2nd grade, and feeling unsure because all the kids are new and he doesn't know them yet, and feeling like they are going to laugh at him if he tells them what he likes or is interested in. We had a great long conversation about this, but it was heartbreaking to hear. I figured this day would come but I didn't realize he could be that articulate about his feelings. He still says he does like school a lot and he has talked excitedly about school. I do think part of it has to do with being in a new grade with new kids (there is not one kid in his class from last year). I told him that he needs to keep telling us how he feels and that there are several other things he has in common with other kids and that he needs to find them (he is quite social and extroverted). Anyhow, we talked for a while and he seemed to feel a lot better and was happy to be able to talk about it. Before this time he has never even acknowledged being different at all even though I know he must know and he knows he is way ahead of what others are learning at his age. It just makes me sad to know he is feeling so different and saying he doesn't want to be different from the others.
I thought I would share our story and see if any others have had a similar story like this or had their kids open up about their feelings.
