Newbie with questions about DD

[vanniebee]

Hi All,
I've just registered on Mumsnet and am hoping the amazing collective brain you have here can help me...

My (only) daughter is 8 years old and it?s proving increasingly difficult to get her motivated about school, hobbies, anything really.

We recently moved from London to Bristol and she has coped brilliantly with the transition, made new friends at school and is happy seeing a lot more of her cousin, aunt & uncle. She seems not too bothered by seeing less of her Dad.

This problem started before we moved with it being difficult to keep her focussed at school, she?s easily distracted, doesn?t concentrate, thoughts wandering all over the place and I?m now starting to worry that this is going to cause real problems as she moves through school towards secondary education. She?s very bright and it?s SOOOOO frustrating to know that she?s doing the absolute bare minimum to get by at school. She says she gets distracted and that school is boring, that she hates writing and although she started off being a very keen reader, she?s even gone off that a bit now!

As an aside, I?ve been trying to get her enthusiastic about anything outside of school, hobbies like gymnastics, swimming, riding her bike, reading?anything that gets her out of the house and passionate about something but nothing seems to be taking. She seems to have very little interest in anything other than watching TV! I?m limiting the amount she watches but don?t want to withdraw it entirely, although I have been tempted to remove the fuse and say the TV?s broken as I?m sure she?ll get used to not having a TV very quickly!!!

Really I would just love to have her enthuse about working hard and achieving at school?it?s easy for her so I really want to make her understand how much satisfaction and joy she could get just from working to the best of her ability.

She?s very well behaved most of the time and we seem to be getting out of the stage of her saying ?NO? to me all the time or getting aggressive and angry when I ask her to do something she doesn?t want to do!

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can go about making a change? Ideas for keeping her motivated? Any advice or encouragement would be gratefully received?

Thanks in advance
vanniebee x

[catinthehat2]

.

[vanniebee]

Sorry, did I do/say something wrong? Like I said, I'm completely new here so have no idea of the mumsnetiquette

[hullygully]

I don't think you did/said anything wrong (although you shouldn't sign your name or add crosses unless you are a fan of Our Lord).

How long ago did you move? Maybe she has withdrawn into herself with tv as a nice mind-numbing drug for a bit while she gets used to all the changes in her life?

[vanniebee]

Oh ok, I didn't think it was a cross but thanks for the heads up hully.

We moved 5 months ago but this problem of staying motivated at school has been going on since she started Year 2...

[bakerslovecakes]

My dd goes through phases like this, shes 13 (and an only child). One day shes really happy and chatty and wants to do really well at school and the next shes really moody and wants to be on msn all the time and doesnt care about school. When she gets like this i just have to wait until she snaps out of it, with my dd i think the pressures of school and becoming a teen and all those hormones are part of it. Sorry i dont have any real advice, just wanted you to know that we all go through it at some point.

btw, i'm new on here too.

[catinthehat2]

(if a message is unanswered and risks falling off the current active conversations, sometimes people do a blank post to bump it back up for you, so you stand more chance of getting replies)

[vanniebee]

Oh ok! Thanks catinthehat

I think we made a bit of progress last night, managed to get her a little bit enthused about writing a story in one of her many notebooks, we're going to try writing a little bit each night. She seemed quite excited about that!

Good to hear that others go through it, I guess it's just part of her growing up and finding her way. I just don't want her to waste her brain!!!

Thanks all for kind replies