Calling Mums of the 'energetic popular' kid that the other kids love but the teachers not so much......

[DrNortherner]

Ds is 8, started YR 4 last week. He has always loved the social aspect of school and hated the academic side. His handwriting is not great and this is holding him back.

He is always the kids who will crack the jokes, mess around and needs constant reminding to focus and concentrate.

This term he is finding it tough, says the work is too hard and his teacher is too strict.

What do you do to make your kids realise it's time to knuckle down and work, or do we just resign ourselves that our kids are not built this way?

I am not writing him off by the way. He is articulate, imaginative, enthusiastic, very sporty and can be very charming to adults, I'm just realistic in that he is never going to set the academic world alight. Can this be changed, or at 8 now, is this the 16 year old he will be?

Thanks

Don't automatically assume that teachers only love the extremely able bright children!!

Lots of boys go through a difficult patch ( usually in year 3 or 4) when they find they have to put in more effort than they are used to. Many will make the jump and buckle down to more work.

Cracking jokes and messing around can sometimes be a sign of a learning difficulty ( though not always of course).

It might be worth giving him some extra support/practice with handwriting and/or checking that he doesn't have any dyslexic/dyspraxic problems that are making things more difficult for him. Sometimes when these are mildish they aren't always picked up on straight away by schools as the children still perform within an average range. Despite this the difficulties can still lead to frustrations for children and they respond by trying to avoid the work!

However, having said all of this it is still very early in the term so I would give a few weeks to allow your son to adjust to this new teacher's style and to let the teacher get to know your son better before worrying too much!! In my experience, boys in particular can suffer from what I call "holiday brain" where they seem to have forgotten anything they ever learned and have very little concentration. It takes them a week or two to adapt and get back into the school routine!!

As a Teacher I've actually always preferred those children that have something about them e.g. The ones with a real sense of self and personality. I often find it difficult to really connect with those that are more able as they can sometimes become arrogant.

I dunno the answer, DrNortherner, but I feel for you.

DS1 has just started YR5 and it is still all about the social side for him. When is your DS' birthday? DS1 is in August, so I was wondering whether it was more to do with maturity than anything else. ...or is that just wishful thinking

My ds is an April birthday. I will give it a few weeks and see how it goes....thanks all.