Stop Saying Your Kid is “Too Smart” For School
When I asked my friend how school was going for her son who is in 4th grade, she gave me the answer that has always made my skin crawl: “He’s just too smart, so he gets in trouble because he is bored.”
Her son was within earshot and he jumped in with how bad his teacher is, how babyish the math is, and how often he has visited the principal’s office for causing trouble in the classroom.
One thing was clear: this was not the first time that mother and son had described the school year this way.
As a teacher, I believe that all of my students are smart in their own way. I don’t believe that any of them are too smart for school and I never accept that poor classroom behavior is excused by too much intelligence.
The consequences of saying your kid is ‘too smart’
If you’re a parent who has felt like the mom above, consider some of the things that can happen when kids hear their parents say that they are ‘too smart’ for school:
- They stop working hard. When kids believe that what they are doing in school is too easy for them, they will dial back their effort. This reduced effort becomes a habit and as the school year progresses and the material gets harder, suddenly this reduced effort isn’t enough to keep up…
