Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling - Jack Handy
...a dimwitted waffle house waitress came up to his table, saw him reading a book, and asked, "What are you reading for?" Not "what are you reading?" as Hicks put it, but "what are you reading for?" His reply was brutally funny: "Well, I read for a lot of reasons, but one of them is so I don't end up a f'ing waffle waitress."
My parents never really made a big deal out of me or my sisters when we were younger and doing good in school. I used to get in trouble if I didn't make straight A's, but they never bragged about me either. But now that 2 of the 3 kids in my family are off to college, my mom is obsessed with the dogs! She's still got one kid left! (but the dogs are better behaved) I like the bumper stickers that say "My kid beat up your honor kid at (insert school here)"
I never thought that I would get THIS reaction. Here I am trying out a bit and all of a sudden I'm getting advice on how my kid can read better! EVEN FROM TRADER JORGE! You guys are the best, even the guys that I don't get along with. TRUCE?
I wonder about the parenting of kids who are advanced in their academic skills, especially at a young age. Academic excellence can come at the sacrifice of other skills children learn in elementary school -- socialization, physical education and things like that. I was probably reading at a 8th grade level in the second grade, but I was also socially awkward, introverted, and downright strange. Is that worth the trade? So kudos to the parents with the smart child. I hope it makes up for him being picked on all the damn time. (In the spirit of full disclousure, I'll probably produce children myself who are great readers and get beat up in playgrounds.)
Weird, JuanValdez... reading that post was like looking at myself in the mirror. I was like that. Can't blame my parents either - they didn't particularly push me, and it's not like we have a family tradition of being "intellectuals". On the other hand, they didn't encourage me to work hard on the weak areas (as mentioned above, socialization and athletics). When I got old enough to figure things out, I tried to work on the weak areas to become a well-rounded person. In terms of P.E. and sports, it worked eventually; in terms of socialization, it worked OK but I was always behind my age group. Probably to this day. I'm not ready to settle into adult life yet. Elementary school wasn't fun, though. Always feeling like a freak, and usually if anything it's boys that are in that situation. Being the only girl who was like that... was really weird. Does anyone remember the Jodie Foster movie "Little Man Tate"? The kid was supposed to be a genius, and no one understood that he really just wanted to connect with other people. That hit the nail on the head. Regardless of academic ability, they're still human beings...
