I think this is more my issue at the moment as the dc aren't bothered. But I feel so bad for 10 year old dc4 who has worked incredibly hard to finally achieve "age related expectations" (not that children less able than him don't work hard) in reading and maths. My eldest is very academically able and got mostly 6-8's and 2 9's in his GCSE results last year. All of my dc love maths. Dc1 got an 8, dc2 is predicted a 9. Dc4 works just as hard but will be doing very well if he gets a 3. He has moderate learning disability and still struggles with capital letters/full stops. My nieces who are younger have started pointing out that they are more clever than him which obviously I nip anything like that in the bud. I keep thinking there is more that I could do though. I always make a big deal about trying your best is the most important thing and tell him I'm proud of him every day. He was self conscious about wearing nappies so I showed him the adult nappies in boots etc and told him lots of grown ups wear nappies, they just don't talk about it. Am I doing enough? He has achieved so much more than I ever thought he would but so many younger children keep over taking him academically. I love how sensible he is though, especially with relationships. A lot of children his age seem to be quite silly, talking about boyfriends and girlfriends and listing their "ex's" etc. Dc4 has a friend who he is very close to but they both say they are too young to be boyfriend/girlfriend. They are "best friends who give each other valentines cards" apparently which I think is very mature and lovely decision from both of them. Dc4 doesn't know what level he is in relation to the average etc at the moment but sooner or later the children in his class will start comparing notes on test results and he will realise that he is behind in lots of subjects. He has been playing the piano since he was 6 and he plays really well but his younger brother has nearly overtaken him and he isn't anywhere near as advanced as his older brothers were at that age. Sorry for the waffle, I'm just having one of those days. He knows he is good at other things like helping but I still worry sometimes.