Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Kid has crappy attitude - help!

I can relate to the attitude. My 9 year old says that he is going to quit school after 5th grade and become an onion farmer and run a roach motel. He said that education beyond those grades will not be necessary for his occupational choice. Yesterday he wrote a story and in the story he mentioned the words "rebel" and "boring teachers" several times and then the school exploded because the students bombed it. One of my (sort of) friends is a principal and he said that DS probably would have been suspended or had some sort of consequence if he had written that in school. Which I think is really dumb. So I had to tell him to NEVER write about bombing a school or any other kind of violent action in a story, because he will get in trouble, and that's going to somehow persuade him to have a better attitude in school, when he can't even express his thoughts in a fictional story? He is also 2e and everything seems to be way too easy or way too difficult. He complains constantly about how the teachers order him around and treat him like a robot. He is compliant but the teachers don't like his scowling or his attitude.

Defiantly remind him not to write about that kind of stuff at school. My DS got in trouble in 1st grade for something he had written. I can't remember the details but it talked about death and implied suicide. Honestly my boy at 1st grade was fairly happy but contemplated issues other kids his age didn't. And because he was only 6 didn't really have sense that it wasn't an appropriate topic for school.

I had to go in and have an embarrassing and awkward discussion with the principal. It was school rules that I had to be brought in to talk about it.

Oh yes, we have been through the "suicide" ordeal as well. I got phone calls, emails, he had to go to the school social worker, etc. He told them he wasn't really serious and there was "only" a 1 percent chance he would do it. Geez! Now everyone is always so uptight about him.

...Besides the mention of bombs (and knowing he obviously didn't mean it), I think the whole onion farmer thing is pretty cute and creative. After all, there's a market for everything.

I thought so too. I asked him how he's going to buy the land and equipment for the onion farm and he said he'll just use a shovel. I suggested he use his big brain to become an investment banker, he can make a million bucks and then he'll have money to buy the land. But he has to go to college. He suggested I give him a dollar and he'd put it in the stock market right now.

this is an additude I've had before, and often times it was because of frustration
And when it comes to the order of the months? I only recently got that down because i started working as an assistant teacher at a preschool, and they recite it every day