Quote:
Originally Posted by MillerTime GFG
I know this is not necessarily the intent of this thread, but I could use the professional insight:
My 8 year old (soon to be 9) daughter is in grade 4 and has been struggling with some tests early on, mainly in math. After seeing the results on her first (failed) test, I went over it a few times with her before she was to retake the test this past Friday. Sure enough, she didn't do much better. Her teacher wrote on the test "Don't be lazy Alina".
So there lies the problem. Bias aside, she is a smart kid and generally does everything correct when she puts her mind to it, such as when I'm watching over her. She is literally just lazy, and doesn't care about the consequences. Part of that is because I guess there aren't really any at this point, but eventually as she gets further on, there will be. She will leave questions blank because she just doesn't want to actually try to use her brain. We've noticed it being an issue with laziness, and now so too has her teacher.
Any ideas? My thoughts are to just make her do more homework until it starts to translate into better grades. Problem is that unless she's constantly supervised, she will just goof around. And to think she's not even a teen yet...
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Disclaimer: I'm a high school teacher
What I see at the age level I work with is kids come to the table with drive or without it. Some can't be stopped no matter what obstacles are in their way. And some you can't find the switch to turn them onto learning.
One of the most consistent things I see is great students often come from parents who have found a way to motivate them and be involved in their education.
As hard as it might be, think of something that will inspire your child to care. Ultimately, you want kids to be intrinsically motivated but if you need to extrinsically motivate them to get them going, then why not. If the carrot is big enough, then she will be more inclined to jump through the hoops that you and the teacher are hoping she hops through.
Find something she really wants (and is reasonable) and offer it as incentive. Instead of looking at a punitive way of dealing this, you are hopefully offering up something positive to get her to get herself on track.