How Teachers Can Relate to the Frustrations of my Typical Kid

My 10-year-old has never seemed like a typical boy his age. As early as age 3, he would engage adults in conversations about topics more interesting to adults than kids. He would talk to Nana about gardening, decorating, and the weather. When with Pops, he talks about Duke basketball and mowing the lawn. He talks to his dad about space exploration, nuclear reactors, military strategy, and computers. He talks to me about theology, current events (he's especially interested in N. Korea's nuclear weapon capacity), politics, fitness, and finance - to the degree that he can understand anyway.
His favorite magazine right now is Popular Mechanics, and he also seems to like Money Magazine. He still likes Legos but primarily the programmable Mindstorm kind his dad likes best. When he was 4, he busied himself while I was homeschooling his sister by assembling his father's Lego Mindstorm kit. When he was ready to program it, he logged into his father's computer (apparently he had memorized the password by watching his dad type it in repeatedly over time) and figured out how to program the thing. Lego instructions are in pictures, and he had watched his dad to do that enough, too, I guess.

 

When our school hired new teachers, bought new textbooks, and replaced some chairs, he asked how that increased spending affected the school's debt-to-income ratio. When we spend money on large home improvements, he asks me if we have enough money to do that and today asked how paying mortgage interest impacts our income taxes. He wants to start investing/trading stocks, but he keeps blowing/investing his money on Pokemon cards. He'll get frustrated if you don't take that game seriously, playing by the rules and strategizing effectively.

He likes obeying rules when he can see the utility in them. Rules that seek to maintain order and fairness are his favorite. While his room may be messy, he generally likes structure and order, so when kids his age act like kids his age by running around wild, crazy, and loud when they are supposed to be working on a project, he gets annoyed. And his biggest peeve is when boys do not follow the game rules, cheating during recess. When kids in his project group smash what they are supposed to be studying or use tools inappropriately, he gets aggravated. So, as he was relating to me about his day today, he vented his frustration over the fact that the kids in his class acted like....typical kids.

"Did you lose your temper?" I asked him?

"Yes!" he cried!

"Uh-oh - did you act out in anger and get in trouble?" I asked.

"No, I only lost it on the inside," he replied.

"Did you politely ask your classmates to follow the instructions or tell them how their behavior made you feel?"

"Yes," he said, "BUT THEY WOULD NOT LISTEN!"

"Then now you know how it feels to be a parent or a teacher who gets to endure such behavior by kids all day long. Perhaps you should show some empathy and servant-minded kindness to your teachers and other parents. You could help make their days more tolerable, even pleasant, you know." - I said (or lectured).

While I may think my little man is odd, quirky, or not quite normal, I'm guessing there is no such thing as a typical kid, for they are all wonderfully, beautifully, and uniquely made. And if they behaved according to a predictable pattern, then parenting would be too easy. May we all seek to exude more patience, harness our tempers, love without condition, and find ways to better empathize, but let him not miss out, I pray, on the simple pleasures of just being a kid.
#PracticingPatience #LearningEmpathy