Kidlopnik

[f86sabre]

My son is 13. He does all the things a 13 year old boy does. He’s into video games, war history, scouts and goofy memes. Around the house he can be a goober. Lacks situational awareness, smells funny and mumbles about as much as he talks. We love him to pieces and he is doing well with school.

Only when we see him with some of the other kids his age does his maturity and how he handles himself shine. I’m not sure if we are just holding him to a high standard at home or if his friends are real goobers

• list item. I guess boys at this age are really maturing at different rates so it is hard to tell.

[CB]

@f86sabre Little of column A, little of column B.

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@f86sabre The Lad is not quite 11 and just got picked by his peers and teachers to be vice-captain at his school next year. Of course we are very proud of him but we also wonder at times: "What do they think they know that we don't?"

[ttyymmnn]

@f86sabre said in Kidlopnik:

list item. I guess boys at this age are really maturing at different rates so it is hard to tell.

This. The thing we are struggling with are our freshman. They finished middle school with at-home learning, and they've been at home for the first have of their freshman year. Which means that this is really an extension of middle school, and not a true new experience where they have to grow and mature as high schoolers. It's like we're all trapped in a black hole where time never progresses.

[Chariotoflove]

Same thing with my daughter, who sometimes doubles as my son for some things. Fortunately she was able to spend significant time in actual classrooms and develop high school relationships. Wonderful kid. Lots of work. Totally worth every minute of it.

[f86sabre]

@ttyymmnn yeah. We are of two mind on the at home thing. On one hand they are missing out on a lot of social interaction. On the other hand a lot of the social interaction in middle school really sucks. It’s a tough call. Our son starts high school next year. Hoping we will be in the building by then, but being the US probably not.

[f86sabre]

@chariotoflove absolutely.

I was a good at that age too. We know that he will be ok in the end. Just funny to watch.

[trivet]

@f86sabre
My son is 23. You just described him perfectly.

[f86sabre]

@silentbutnotreallydeadly that is awesome. Make sure he knows to crush them in his all powerful grip.

Really, that is pretty cool.

[Shop-Teacher]

@f86sabre I teach middle school, so he's right in my wheel house. I can say without a shadow of the doubt, the answer is yes.

The crap some of these kids get away with is simply staggering! Some of them are simply goobers despite their parents best efforts. There is usually a strong correlation between those two factors. Sometimes you meet/talk to a parent, and everything snaps into focus, if you catch my drift. It is rather neat seeing how much some of them grow between 6th and 8th grades.

I can see the same distinctions in my (almost) 8-year old and my 5-year old daughters. They were wonderful, and drive us completely bonkers (so, totally normal), but man when you put them with a group of other kids ... Well, we must be doing SOMETHING right!

[Roadkilled]

[MisterButtercup]

That's the impression I get with our 6yo. Here, he's just nuts, but out "there" and he's (apparently) a very well behaved kid.

[BritsnSwedes was MINIGTI]

@MisterButtercup yeah our 3-yo son is super wild at home but apparently got on surprisingly well at preschool for the 3 weeks he got to go. Hoping he might get to go back in January.

[phenotyp]

@f86sabre My daughter is 7 going on 17. Life is terrifying. Occasionally we get moments like tonight, when, after serious meltdowns about authority (not mine), we end up with LEGO and a nose-booping contest.
You can't get attached to outcomes, but you can build the best that you're able, and sometimes you gotta let go.

[CoolMinivan.......Nobody]

@f86sabre My oldest daughter is 13, I find it's a mix batch of both.
Some of her "friends" are really just dolts that make me question the future of our world, the others are fine kids they just lack some maturity.

[MisterButtercup]

@britsnswedes-was-minigti cool! Yeah same happened with our son, which was a relief, he's a real booger when he wants to be

[trivet]

I remember getting "conformation" that we did something right raising our kids.

Going to my first Parent-Teacher conference at my daughters high school. She was always an excellent student and a great kid, but you always wonder how they are when you aren't around.

When I introduced myself as my daughters dad, the teacher actually thanked me, and told me how wonderful it was to have her in class. She was one of the kids that they love to teach, because she was a kid that truly wanted to learn.

One of my proudest moments as a parent by far.

[davesaddiction]

@f86sabre Very similar story at our house. Let's hope it holds up for another 5+ years!

[Bloody-the-resident-LandRover-apologist]

@silentbutnotreallydeadly vice-captain of his school house? Or is this along the lines of Prefects in other Commonwealth countries? Generally curious.

Either way, congrats to him as I'm sure he earned it.

[BaconSandwich]

Our little bacon bits:
Miss almost-six: has struggles with anxiety, among other things. We're trying to get everything sorted out before she starts grade 1, but given the history of mental health issues (on both sides), we knew at least one of our children were going to have issues.
Miss four: getting her to eat any substantial amount of food is a challenge. She's a twig. But she does pretty well otherwise.
Miss almost-two: She's already a threenager. She's got some sass on occasion, but for the most part, is pretty good. Now if only we could convince her to not wake up 3+ times a night.

[SilentbutnotreallyDeadly]

@bloody-the-resident-shitposting-saffer said in Kidlopnik:

@silentbutnotreallydeadly vice-captain of his school house? Or is this along the lines of Prefects in other Commonwealth countries? Generally curious.

Either way, congrats to him as I'm sure he earned it.

Thanks...yeah this is about being a Prefect. The school community votes in eight kids (four boys and four girls) from a pool of 20 or so nominees (nominated by teachers mostly). Then they vote again for boy and girl captains and vice captains from those eight kids. House captains are a seperate thing but still a thing.

One thing I'm quite chuffed with in terms of the school and its inclusiveness is that one of The Lad's colleagues as a Prefect is a mate of his who is an autistic lad who is non-verbal in casual conversation. He did his vote-for-me speech by prerecording it and then preparing the subtitles himself. And he was one of two such candidates as well.