Why do so many parents say their kids are bored at school?

[Anonymous]

The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you can comfortably afford private, I would at least look into it and see what your options are.

My kids are now in 6th and 9th and I'm really wishing they had gone to private school. We live in a wealthy neighborhood where most people use public school but there are still a lot of issues with public education and the inability to advance the curriculum for kids who learn more quickly. My kids are too old and don't want to switch schools now, plus where we live there are no good private options within a 20 minute drive. So we try to push them as much as we can, but school is just really easy and boring for them. Its such a disappointment and if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably move somewhere closer to a good private school and buy a less expensive house to make it more affordable. Hindsight is 20/20.

Op here. We moved to this school district for the supposedly excellent schools. We live in a multi million dollar home and have spent almost another million on renovations to make it our exact style. The privates we are considering are 20+ min away while we currently live 1-2 miles from our zoned elementary, middle and high school. I feel like we have sunk so much money into this house.

I feel your pain, but it just never got better for us and honestly in some ways got worse. Just sharing with you my regrets. My kids would have happily switched in ES but now want nothing to do with it despite totally boredom at school and some real behavioral issues. The school is only focused on the behind kids and the retake policy is so ridiculous that there are no standards for the kids to meet.

[Anonymous]

^^^my kids don’t have behavioral issues but the school deals with many. It doesn’t help that our middle school and high school are very diverse economically and many parents just do not care about enforcing school standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

1. There are a lot of socially clueless people out there. They might not understand how it would be rude.

2. The parent knows that the other parents' child is very smart or advanced, too. So, they're assuming that the other parents' child is also complaining of boredom at school, and they're trying to compare notes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

Yeah, (former teacher) this is why I don't think it's offensive or insulting if another parent says something about their child about being bored. I just take it as their child isn't behaving well (which is normally something I would assume based on their behavior outside of the classroom anyway). No judgement though- my preschool DS is a hyperactive mess, too, ha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you can comfortably afford private, I would at least look into it and see what your options are.

My kids are now in 6th and 9th and I'm really wishing they had gone to private school. We live in a wealthy neighborhood where most people use public school but there are still a lot of issues with public education and the inability to advance the curriculum for kids who learn more quickly. My kids are too old and don't want to switch schools now, plus where we live there are no good private options within a 20 minute drive. So we try to push them as much as we can, but school is just really easy and boring for them. Its such a disappointment and if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably move somewhere closer to a good private school and buy a less expensive house to make it more affordable. Hindsight is 20/20.

Op here. We moved to this school district for the supposedly excellent schools. We live in a multi million dollar home and have spent almost another million on renovations to make it our exact style. The privates we are considering are 20+ min away while we currently live 1-2 miles from our zoned elementary, middle and high school. I feel like we have sunk so much money into this house.

Huh, with TWO Ivy League educations and the fact that you learned to read at 3, you'd think you'd have been decision making skills that this. Maybe when you were sitting around reading chapter books while the other children learned their letters, the teacher should have noticed and taught you some common sense.

LOL. The real issue is OP is peeved at her boondoggle of a house purchase, but taking it out on people she doesn't even know dealing with an issue she has no experience with. On the internet, anyone can say they have multiple degrees from Oxford and live in a billion dollar house, yet curiously send their kids to public. Unless one is massively in debt, and their Ivy degrees are in medieval shoemaking, there's no good reason for such a wealthy and educated person to send their kids to public. A 20 minute drive to private school is not a bad commute at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you can comfortably afford private, I would at least look into it and see what your options are.

My kids are now in 6th and 9th and I'm really wishing they had gone to private school. We live in a wealthy neighborhood where most people use public school but there are still a lot of issues with public education and the inability to advance the curriculum for kids who learn more quickly. My kids are too old and don't want to switch schools now, plus where we live there are no good private options within a 20 minute drive. So we try to push them as much as we can, but school is just really easy and boring for them. Its such a disappointment and if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably move somewhere closer to a good private school and buy a less expensive house to make it more affordable. Hindsight is 20/20.

Op here. We moved to this school district for the supposedly excellent schools. We live in a multi million dollar home and have spent almost another million on renovations to make it our exact style. The privates we are considering are 20+ min away while we currently live 1-2 miles from our zoned elementary, middle and high school. I feel like we have sunk so much money into this house.

Don’t assume private school is a better education. It really depends on your child and what services can be offered. Generally, private will be a better education for the average or just above average kid. But if your child is well above average, often privates don’t have much to offer. Many times the public school district is able to offer better programs to those kids through gifted programs, partnering with local collages/university, dual enrollment, etc. Those services are usually county wide since no one school has enough kids to utilize them alone. Again- this is very specific to your county, district, child and the actual private schools available. But from my searching, past putting your kid in the classroom the next grade for math or another subject they don’t offer any special services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard parents say this in preschool, elementary and now middle school. The worst behaved kid at our preschool was supposedly bored so he acted out and hit and bit classmates. I have a kindergarten child who loves kindergarten and I find it insulting when parents say their kid is bored. They are implying that their kid is so much smarter and more advanced than the other kids in the class. I have 3 kids and they all do well in school. They are happy and don’t complain they are bored. They get good grades with minimal effort.

I was bored to tears in elementary school. Mostly because I understood in about 90 seconds what the teacher spend 30 minutes explaining. I solved the problem by reading a book under my desk. Kids have different processing speeds in different subject areas.

[Anonymous]

Well, OP's little story just gets better and better each time she posts!

Do go on, my dear. Add a few more insufferable details.

[Anonymous]

Yes, many smart kids are bored at school because they are advanced and perhaps also being enriched at home by parents.

Many not smart kids are also bored at school because they have learning difficulties or are special needs. For them school is overwhelming and they do not enjoy academics.

These two kinds of boredom is not the same, regardless of people trying to lump these two together. Many people claim that their child is GTLD, but this is true only if getting these kids in a magnet track that accommodates them will make their boredom and bahavioral issues disappear. This is not true for the majority of GTLD identified kids in magnet program.

Anyhoo, what parents need to do is get the kids the enrichment and acceleration at home. Through paid programs, free online programs, teaching them themselves etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, many smart kids are bored at school because they are advanced and perhaps also being enriched at home by parents.

Many not smart kids are also bored at school because they have learning difficulties or are special needs. For them school is overwhelming and they do not enjoy academics.

These two kinds of boredom is not the same, regardless of people trying to lump these two together. Many people claim that their child is GTLD, but this is true only if getting these kids in a magnet track that accommodates them will make their boredom and bahavioral issues disappear. This is not true for the majority of GTLD identified kids in magnet program.

Anyhoo, what parents need to do is get the kids the enrichment and acceleration at home. Through paid programs, free online programs, teaching them themselves etc.

I know a lot of formerly gifted kids (now adults) with ADHD. I don't think it's that uncommon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

1. There are a lot of socially clueless people out there. They might not understand how it would be rude.

2. The parent knows that the other parents' child is very smart or advanced, too. So, they're assuming that the other parents' child is also complaining of boredom at school, and they're trying to compare notes.

Wait, you're affirming this absurd opinion that it is rude/offensive to mention to someone that your child is bored at school? This is neither rude nor offensive, people. There are a zillion reasons kids could be bored at school, and it does not imply that the kids are misbehaving or that the parents are bragging about the kids' intelligence!!! Talk about clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

1. There are a lot of socially clueless people out there. They might not understand how it would be rude.

2. The parent knows that the other parents' child is very smart or advanced, too. So, they're assuming that the other parents' child is also complaining of boredom at school, and they're trying to compare notes.

Wait, you're affirming this absurd opinion that it is rude/offensive to mention to someone that your child is bored at school? This is neither rude nor offensive, people. There are a zillion reasons kids could be bored at school, and it does not imply that the kids are misbehaving or that the parents are bragging about the kids' intelligence!!! Talk about clueless.

I am the OP and this is exactly the point of my post. I think the pp may have answered my question perfectly.

I derailed my original post with my private school dilemma. We will be doing applications and that has nothing to do with my post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you can comfortably afford private, I would at least look into it and see what your options are.

My kids are now in 6th and 9th and I'm really wishing they had gone to private school. We live in a wealthy neighborhood where most people use public school but there are still a lot of issues with public education and the inability to advance the curriculum for kids who learn more quickly. My kids are too old and don't want to switch schools now, plus where we live there are no good private options within a 20 minute drive. So we try to push them as much as we can, but school is just really easy and boring for them. Its such a disappointment and if I had it to do all over again, I'd probably move somewhere closer to a good private school and buy a less expensive house to make it more affordable. Hindsight is 20/20.

Op here. We moved to this school district for the supposedly excellent schools. We live in a multi million dollar home and have spent almost another million on renovations to make it our exact style. The privates we are considering are 20+ min away while we currently live 1-2 miles from our zoned elementary, middle and high school. I feel like we have sunk so much money into this house.

I'm confused. In your OP you sound totally happy with the public school, just annoyed by other parents and the 'bored' comments. But you said your child is happy, thriving, not bored. So what is the problem, really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The difference is parents of gifted/academically talented kids that are ‘bored’ in class but have no behavior issues generally don’t bring up to other parents up how bored their child is or may be because class is soooo easy. It’s rude.


The parents that do bring up how bored their kids are are usually training to justify why their child is a PIA in class, whether they are smart or not

1. There are a lot of socially clueless people out there. They might not understand how it would be rude.

2. The parent knows that the other parents' child is very smart or advanced, too. So, they're assuming that the other parents' child is also complaining of boredom at school, and they're trying to compare notes.

Wait, you're affirming this absurd opinion that it is rude/offensive to mention to someone that your child is bored at school? This is neither rude nor offensive, people. There are a zillion reasons kids could be bored at school, and it does not imply that the kids are misbehaving or that the parents are bragging about the kids' intelligence!!! Talk about clueless.

PP here. Naah.. I'm saying that it all depends on the specific person who is saying that their kid is bored. I've encountered people who are simply making conversation. I've also encountered people who are implying that their kid is so much smarter and more advanced than everyone else's. I've even encountered socially clueless people who are trying to make conversation, but come across like the braggy parents.