Anonymous
09/13/2020 21:43
Subject: How is your middle schooler's attitude these days?
Schools closed, sports interrupted, terrible for our 14 yr old. Feels caged, frustrated, needing peer interaction, taking more risks, more defiant. Really tough.
Anonymous
09/12/2020 21:33
Subject: How is your middle schooler's attitude these days?
Anonymous wrote:Like a roller coaster. Super happy, then super angry. Very Jekyll and Hyde
This is DS. Eating a lot, growing, mood all over the place. Very dramatic over everything.
Anonymous
09/12/2020 20:36
Subject: How is your middle schooler's attitude these days?
Anonymous wrote:Mine is negative almost all the time. ADHD-inattentive, but truthfully he likes remote school better than in person school. He just hates school. He seems to hate everything that isn't tech/video game related. (He's in therapy. It helps a little.)
Why do you allow video games in the home, especially around a child that clearly can't handle them?
Anonymous
09/12/2020 19:43
Subject: Re:How is your middle schooler's attitude these days?
Knock on the wood, but mine has been closest to what she usually is/was pre-pandemic since schools started. She was unbearable for the past few months, to the point that I made an appointment with a child's psychiatrist to see if we needed to start medication for depression/anxiety or ADHD (she was diagnosed a couple of years ago but never did medication before).
But she was so moody, moppy, negative, uninterested... I was really worried.
I changed a couple of things since school started besides putting her on a low dose of Concerta (18mg): now she does her homework/assignments while sitting by my side and I go over with her to make sure she has done everything - a little bit each day to not get overwhelmed. I require that she turns on her video camera during school for most of the time, especially morning meetings. I fill her planner for her (the planner is a new thing) and try to spread out the assignments throughout the week so they are manageable.
But I think being able to see her friends again, have a routine again, and have a scheduled time to chat with her friends (after school) for 30-45 min has been extremely helpful! She is even wanting to spend time with me again and wants to share her interests.
I really hope this continues.
But she was so moody, moppy, negative, uninterested... I was really worried.
I changed a couple of things since school started besides putting her on a low dose of Concerta (18mg): now she does her homework/assignments while sitting by my side and I go over with her to make sure she has done everything - a little bit each day to not get overwhelmed. I require that she turns on her video camera during school for most of the time, especially morning meetings. I fill her planner for her (the planner is a new thing) and try to spread out the assignments throughout the week so they are manageable.
But I think being able to see her friends again, have a routine again, and have a scheduled time to chat with her friends (after school) for 30-45 min has been extremely helpful! She is even wanting to spend time with me again and wants to share her interests.
I really hope this continues.
Anonymous
09/10/2020 23:16
Subject: Re:How is your middle schooler's attitude these days?
6th grader here - mostly happy, completing assignments well with little help from me. I have caught him playing Minecraft edu during a few school zooms, though. He has occasional whininess and difficultly following instructions sometimes unless I take away screentime, but I’m thinking that’s fairly normal. His school is moving to a hybrid next week after over a month of virtual, and I’m bracing myself for a rough transition (we remaining fully virtual).