Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy General support thread

I like this banging on the keyboard idea. Dd12 is currently struggling to fit in socially. She wants to play sports and has no interest in texting, talking about "crushes", etc. She is feeling abandoned and angry with some of her girl friends who have moved swiftly into adolescence and now are "boring." Dd spends lots of time at recess reading by herself. She is great at sports and I hope she can continue pouring her energy into them, but socially things are difficult right now.

Spaghetti, I can relate to that experience where teachers promise xyz is going to happen in later years and then when you get there you are let down. And we got the line about my child being too enthusiastic about learning too. Really??

We have had very rough past couple months and I am thinking there may be bullying going on at school. I am not using that term lightly, either. Very sad..

I'm so sorry. That's awful and heartbreaking.

These poor kids! Middle school is hard enough...

jgior[eaaaa 0hotglrhjtgoklirfjlogljdrfesoljgoljurgeorgereuireui

Can I just leave that there?

So sorry you and your daughter are going through this. I'm beyond baffled that todays schools that turn down eager kids!

We got called in to talk to the music teacher because my DS7 is not listening in class and sighs and rolls his eyes sometimes when the teacher is teaching something. She thought he didn't appreciate music, but in fact, he's been learning piano for more than 2 years and is a talented if not gifted player. We finally showed the teacher the video from his latest recital. (By the way, that performance landed him one of the five spots to take a master class with the principal keyboardist at CSO. The other kids are 10 - 12.) The teacher was so surprised that she went speechless for a moment.

The sighing and rolling eyes are not respectful so we did talk to DS about it and ask him not to do that in class. I hope, however, the music teacher now realizes why he's behaving that way - he is just bored out of his mind in music class.

Ah, feeling like banging my head against the keyboard too. I got called to pick up DS4 from school yesterday because he tripped and fell head-first into the toilet (OT consult still pending...). Luckily, his face/head hit water and he was not injured, but he was extremely embarrassed. He has been so positive about school lately and he was crying about going in today. I think this has also set him back with regards to his issues about water on his face. SIGH. Never a dull moment.

Oh, poor baby! I totally feel for him, but maybe someday you can laugh about it.

My sister broke her nose falling against the toilet when she was very young, and yes, it is the kind of story that gets better over time (though maybe you should ask my sister...). It is brought up almost as frequently as the time she got a huge bruise on her forehead from walking into a parking meter.

Hope he puts it behind him and feels better soon.

Hi all - love this thread!

Ocelot - I feel for your DS! Mine is constantly coming home with bruises on his arms and legs, which he can't remember how he got them. One time, he burned his finger sticking it into the hand dryer.

Can I vent here about DS8's report card? Just received mid-term report yesterday - quite a hodgepodge. I'd like to mark it up with red ink and send it back to them!

Some background- DS is in French immersion, so he has 2 main teachers - one for English and one for French. He English teacher gets him - she's a former gifted teacher and has done her best to accommodate his DCD/dyspraxia as well as give him extra challenges in class. His French teacher - not so much. She warned me last time I spoke to her that he would have not so great marks on the 'learning skills' portion of the report card (these are things like Collaboration, Organization, Self-regulation, and so on - they don't give A, B, C's, but "Excellent, Good, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement").

She has reported to me that he is distracted in class, wanders around, and doesn't complete his work. So I was expecting some 'S's or 'N's, but not the volume of negative comments!

Comments in the learning skills area are in 2 parts - Strengths, and Next Steps (to improve). I started reading the 'strengths' section and there were very few positive comments, other than in the 'collaboration' area. The other areas were comments like "Needs to learn how to not be distracted" "Sometimes hands in homework without constant prompting by teacher", "Occasionally uses the word wall to check his incomplete work". Grrrr. How is that a positive comment?

Also, on the academic side, he did really well in math, pretty good in (English) language, and less well in anything taught in French. He got a C- in 'health' because he apparently doesn't understand fire safety rules and had trouble making an anti-bullying poster (which he had to draw)- HUH????

It's not because he doesn't understand or 'get' the French - when he reads or speaks it at home he does awesome. And last year he did well in French and really got along with the teacher.

I will need to calm down before I call his French teacher - deep breaths....