When I asked T how his day was today after school, he conveyed that he had got into trouble...
T: "I got my own table today Daddy. I have to stay there forever."
Me: "Probably not forever, but do you want to tell me what happened?"
T: "No."
Me: "Well CAN you tell me what happened? I'm not going to give you trouble, I just want to try and understand what happened."
T: "Ok, I guess. I'm not going to get in more trouble, right?"
Me: "Right."
T: "Ok. I was disruptive, and talked when I wasn't supposed to."
Me: "That doesn't sound too bad, are you sure there wasn't aything else?"
T: "No. Well... that did actually happen a few times. Like in the class... in the gym... in computer class... in centres..."
Me: "Is there a reason that you were talking?"
T: "Yeah, cuz N was talking to ME."
Me: "But you know that there are times you can talk to N and times that you can't."
T: "I know Daddy. I'm just bored. We keep learning stuff I already know."
And so it begins.
The eternal walk of trouble through boredom...
I know it well. I got in a bit of trouble at school.
But I lasted more than a couple of months before I reached the state.
What I learned from my experiences, and the piece of "wisdom" that I hoped to convey to Tommy, was this:
Me: "I understand. We've already done a lot of learning because you're very lucky, and very smart. But you have to let everybody else learn too. Do you understand?"
T: "No."
(lmao)
Me: "(fighting off the laugh) Well just because you have already learned something, doesn't mean everybody has. Let them learn - you'll have more to talk with them about. If you're bored, memorize everything the teacher says. I know you can remember things with incredible detail. Focus on the details."
T: "I like details."
Me: "I know you do little man. So when you already know something, learn it better. Learn it well enough that you could teach one of your friends if they didn't understand something. Wouldn't that be nice?"
T: "I could help be a teacher?"
*recognizing the enormous negative ramifications that could stem from this*
Me: "Well not really a teacher bud. But you can be a helper to your friends. You could help E (his little girlfriend, awww) if she ever didn't understand something. Like say she was having trouble counting..."
T: "So I could have a play date about counting?"
Perhaps it's wrong, but while this isn't what i was neccessarily driving at, it seemed like it was the reward at the end of the rainbow, so I went with it...
Me: "Sure you could bud. If you understood well enough because you had listened and memorized everything."
T: "I will listen. i will memorize everything."
And the scary thing is... he just might.
