Did your smart but unmotivated 7th grader turn it around?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| My seventh grader is getting all As in his AAP courses, but is generally unmotivated to do more than the bare minimum. Doesn't read for fun, not interested in mowing lawns for $$, basically no hustle. How did your kid like this end up? Were you able to teach them grit? If so, how? |
Anonymous
|
Why is this in the college forum?
|
Anonymous
| No. I now have a smart and unmotivated 19 year old. It's just his personality. |
Anonymous
Because that's where I hope he's headed and with people putting where their kids are getting in, I'm hoping someone can provide insight. Now, do you have any insight on the question at hand? |
Anonymous
| I think you posted in the wrong forum. Also, what you’re describing is “a kid.” |
Anonymous
What is he doing with his life atm? |
Anonymous
This poor child. |
Anonymous
| Mine did not. Just their personality and it is so frustrating. Gets harder to do well in school the older they get and harder the classes |
Anonymous
In college and having a great time. |
Anonymous
|
I’d try to find some non academic ways to engage with him.
At that age school can be boring, esp for smart kids. Lean into the Arts. Go on day trips, see things, mix it up. Plan stuff that’s cool, weird. Things that are hands on or things that are experiential or anything just different from his day to day experience. Different foods, different cultures, hiking, there’s so much. Perhaps an away week or two camp in the summer, that can really be good for them. It just might feed him on a different level. I would try to inspire him rather than beat a drum about getting it together. Before high school, but not now, remind him that he’s building his own transcript, not you, and that he’ll want to keep that in mind as it’s a road to college. |
Anonymous
Almost no kids mow lawns for money anymore, and almost none ever did. If you want your kid to be hungry for money, stop showering him with your riches. |
Anonymous
| OP, how involved are you in your child’s schoolwork? Do you look at homework, projects, daily planner? |
Anonymous
| That was my son so I switched him to a private school in 6th grade. His straight As disappeared (he didn’t actually deserve them in the first place). He learned he had to work much harder for his grades. |
Anonymous
|
This really does belong in the Teen thread, but I'll offer there is a long road between 7th grade and high school graduation. In some ways it's like comparing a 2 year old with a 7 year old and worrying that the 2 year old is behind.
Intrinsic motivation is the goal, but a hard one to teach. We keep our kids busy by requiring them to do one physical activity/sport and one activity to stimulate their brain. As they get older, if they don't have enough to do we make them get a job and all my kids have started working at 14-15 during the summer. What I'm hearing you describe is a kid that works smart, not hard, and that's a strength. Few people would give *more* when what they're giving is already A material. They'll need better study skills and effort as they get older and the classes get harder for them. My 7th grader is recognizing what effort looks like this year, for my middle kid that wasn't until 8th grade, and my oldest didn't feel the pinch until Junior year of HS. |
Anonymous
| ffs OP. you’re going to ruin your child with that attitude. |