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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be fed up hearing "oh s(he) is just bored at school" re badly behaved children?

66 replies

Caz10 · 29/06/2009 15:06

Met friends of DH today, they have a little girl in Yr2, I don't see them often and just asked how she was doing at school for a c bit of crap chat...anyway apparently she's been in constant trouble, letters and phone calls home all term etc etc - but of course it is "just because she's bored at school"

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Disclaimer - I am a primary teacher!

OP posts:
steviesgirl · 29/06/2009 15:09

And that makes it okay for her to behave badly

YANBU.

oliverboliverbutt · 29/06/2009 15:11

maybe she is!
Maybe most kids who do act up are bored.
I mean, 6 hours every day with the same kids, teacher, routine..... yawn.

My girl is bored - she is way beyond what they are teaching her (we do extra work at home at her request) and I can see that next year (year 3) she might become more of a problem. At the moment she is well behaved.
But yeah, I'll be one of those unreasonable parents saying her kid is bored.

Make teaching more interesting, get rid of the national curriculum and teaching to tests, and give the kids the kind of work that challenges them. Maybe then they won't be so bloody bored.

Original poster
Caz10 · 29/06/2009 15:19

We're in Scotland so no SATS etc although we are still bound by a curriculum...but you can teach the set curriculum in an interesting way!

But I've never yet come across a child who is way ahead at everything - they might be "bright" academically but less able at art or whatever - everyone has areas they can improve in IMO. And a good teacher will be challenging pupils who are doing well.

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 29/06/2009 15:24

YANBU. Yes being bored (or, more often, being badly taught) can contribute but (IMHO) a child intelligent enough to be bored is intelligent enough to understand that getting in trouble is not an acceptable or productive solution. Writing off bad behaviour as being "just because he/she is bored" is lazy and is effectively excusing it.

GIvePeasAChance · 29/06/2009 15:26

YANBU The word bored is banned here.......and if ever heard is closely followed by the words "only boring people get bored". Usually shuts them up.

stealthsquiggle · 29/06/2009 15:27

givepeasachance - my DC get "only the boring get bored" as well (as did I as a child)

GIvePeasAChance · 29/06/2009 15:35

I had it as a child too. In all seriousness, I don't think I do ever get bored. I can never understand how a child gets 'bored'. There are millions and millions of things they don't know - and includes a lesson which they may claim to find easy. Every subject they ever learn about can be expanded and experimented with and taken to different levels.

I blame the parents for a total lack of creativity

Original poster
Caz10 · 29/06/2009 15:47

I'm afraid I also trot out "only boring people get bored"!

OP posts:
oliverboliverbutt · 29/06/2009 15:51

Well I have to disagree.
When a child who had a lesson on say, Harriet Tubman - sits through the lesson, understands it, even comes home and looks more information up on the internet.
Then two days later they go over the same stuff.
then two days later again.
Or a week long lesson on pirates (I am serious).

errr.....boring.

and counter-productive to learning.
School is not the only place a child can learn and the way a lot of them are set up do not cater to all learning styles and advancements.

I can see how a kid who is doing decimal fractions at home and adding sums in class can get well and truly bored.

pagwatch · 29/06/2009 15:56

Can I add..
"if you are bored I am happy to come and help you tidy your bedroom?"

stealthsquiggle · 29/06/2009 15:56

oliver - that sounds like lousy teaching, yes, but still not an excuse for being constantly "in trouble".

slayerette · 29/06/2009 16:04

Yes, while I accept that school might be boring on occasion, why does that make it all right for the child to cause trouble? Surely they should be learning that life isn't one long parade of entertainment designed just for them and that they will find some things more interesting and stimulating than others - so get over it and deal with the boring stuff without disrupting everyone else!

It does make me very irritated. YANBU.

McSnail · 29/06/2009 16:09

YANBU. I hate this umbrella excuse.

I'm a teacher too, I have to add. Secondary... interestingly, some pupils seem to be 'bored' in EVERY SINGLE SUBJECT. Funny that.

TheProvincialLady · 29/06/2009 16:12

Well I was about to agree but then I remembered how I was when I was 9. We had these Ginn 360 books to work through in English (comprehension) and they were cunningly coded 9a, b, c and 10a, b, c etc - so if you were 9 you should be working through the 9 books and at 10 through the 10s and so on. But we children didn't know that.

I HATED those books. They were so easy I was bored out of my mind. It felt like baby work to me. So despite being otherwise a model pupil, I started behaving appallingly in English. The English teacher must have thought I was the devil's child.

One day I was messing about by the book trolley and saw the whole Ginn series, and started browsing. The level 13 books looked genuinely interesting to me so I grabbed one and started working through it. A few weeks later the teacher remarked on how well behaved I had been and asked to look at my book. She marked it and I got full marks for everything. Then she told me off for doing work from that book and said I had to start again at the book I had been given and work through the whole damned lot

So I started misbehaving again and did none of the work. And it genuinely was because I was bored. I felt so ashamed of my behaviour but I was unable to stop. It was pure frustration.

So actually YABU because in some cases it genuinely is boredom and not just bad behaviour.

oliverboliverbutt · 29/06/2009 16:16

while I accept that I am a minority, I do think that the educational system is set up to bore a lot kids out of their minds and to squash their natural curiosity.

And I want to be clear, my dds teacher is great - but she HAS to teach in this way to make sure that all of the kids understand the subject being taught. She can't take time to teach my girl her decimal fractions when the rest of the class is on sums, can she?
it's no fun for bright kids who get it in one lesson and are ready for more of a challenge.

I don't think that every kid that acts out is bright, but I do think we should look at how the system is set and stop labeling kids as naughty.

McSnail · 29/06/2009 16:21

Oliver - if we can amend that to "stop labelling some kids as naughty" then I'm with you.

But some kids ARE just badly behaved. As a secondary teacher I see kids who have gone through primary, obviously excused as being 'bored' (what, for the whole of primary school?) and it gets a lot worse when they get to big school.

Actually, I know university tutors who are having problems with disruptive students - I wonder if these students are 'bored' too?

katiestar · 29/06/2009 16:25

YANBU they are either bored or its 'a syndrome'. DS has a boy in his class who has a syndrome where he can't stop punching people (but of course only those who are littler than him!)

Back to topic
I do think that kids who either find teh work weay too easy or way tto difficult will play up or daydream depending on their personalityf.Not that that is an excuse an excuse You can't expect school,work,life to be endlessly stimulating and inspiring

Hulababy · 29/06/2009 16:39

Being bored is not an excuse to be naughty IMO. A bright child should be capable of understanding the need for good behaviour and manners within a classroom.

If a child is bored with the work it is an issue to take up witn school.

If it is because the child is given work that is too easy take it up with the teacher or head and keep pushing if necessary. There is no child that knows everything about every toppic so no excuse.

If it is because of poor teaching again take it up with school.

If it is because they don't like the subject then I tend to think tough. You have to do it and do it proper with no sillies!

Being bored is used as a get out excuse a lot in education these days but I bet in most classrooms teaching and learning is more dynamic than when we or our parents were at school. And I know we were never allowed the excuse!

hocuspontas · 29/06/2009 16:50

Oliver - all schools differentiate literacy and maths. There may be 5 min carpet time in Maths where your dd is 'bored'. The rest of the time should be group work and a plenary. The group work will be set to her standard. If not - ask why not. All children come home and say they're bored. And she wouldn't have been re-learning Harriet Tubman all day would she? Only for 30 mins in literacy or topic I imagine

duchesse · 29/06/2009 17:28

YANBU, this makes my blood boil. Children should be well-behaved in class no matter what. With parental license to misbehave even when not being entertained in three-minute chunks, they soon lose faith in teachers and by 11 (when I pick them up at secondary school) have zero attention span. They need to know that they can't be entertained 24/7.

piscesmoon · 29/06/2009 17:43

YANBU-funnily enough they are 'bored' in every lesson!

cory · 29/06/2009 20:45

I am quite willing to make allowances for other people's children and accept that they may be too bright to be able to cope with the boring lessons.

But if my own dd tried trotting out the only-misbehaving-because-I'm-bored line, I'd be down on her like a ton of bricks. I expect her to be bright enough to understand what it's like from the teacher's point of view.

But obviously I don't expect other people's children to be quite as bright as my own

cory · 29/06/2009 20:46

SN is different though. If dd had that type of SN then I would be trying to get help for her.

NaccetyMac · 29/06/2009 20:52

A whole week of pirates? Brilliant, I want to be in her class.

Kimi · 29/06/2009 20:54

Some people just will not admit there are some horrible badly behaved kids out there