Smart Mouth

My son Cody? He is the light of my life AND the bane of my existence.

He got another detention. This time before he could come back to school, we had to have a conference with the teacher that gave the detention, this is the same teacher that gave him the other detentions.

So, I sent BB. Because it is usually ME that gets to go listen to the bad things the children do, and I thought it was HIS turn to feel like a bad parent.

Sooooo, what is Cody doing wrong? He is reading. Yes, READING.

Now, reading is usually a fantastic thing, in fact at this age they have so much trouble GETTING children to read, that his school requires the kids to always have a book in their possession. But they are supposed to put the book in a basket under their desk when each class starts, not to be taken out again until their work is complete. Cody puts the book in the basket, but that is where the rule following ends. He takes the book out whenever he feels like it, before his work is done, even while she is in the middle of a lecture, and he sits in the FRONT ROW.

There are times when all they are required to do is watch a video and when they hear a bell chime, they are to write down the next sentence. What is Cody doing? He is reading. So, she has tried to embarrass him in front of the class, ask him all the things he was supposed to have written down, trying to inspire him to do it. BUT? He knows every answer. He never gets them wrong. Right now he is barely turning in ANY daily work, he just gets a 100% on tests and brings his grade up.

ARGH!

She even said that some of the kids that sit around him HATE to read, those kids had to be FORCED to read at the beginning of the year, and now they are reading BECAUSE of Cody. He recommends books to them, he gets them excited by describing what he likes about different books.

So, his teacher said she feels SO FRUSTRATED (welcome to MY world lady!) because how can she reprimand him for reading and not paying attention, when he is STILL learning everything that everyone else is learning and acing the tests???? She said she thinks he belongs in the Gifted and Talented program, but they won’t even consider taking him because he doesn’t apply himself.

Seriously people. I am about to rip my hair out. I don’t know what to do with him. When I talk to him about it, he seems unfazed. He KNOWS he is smarter than almost all the kids in his classes, he even helps them out with their work. All while reading a book a day. He probably reads five books a week. GAH! It is like FRICKIN’ disease!

The most frustrating thing of ALL???? I SOOOOO see myself in him. I am obsessive about reading, the world just sorta falls away when I am reading a good book. I am consumed by it. And I never tried hard in school EITHER, I was a procrastinator, didn’t see the point in a lot of the things they made us learn. But I was never as smart as that boy is… and I cannot understand why he has NO motivation.

Sooooo, who has a solution? Suggestion? How do I handle this? (Besides self-medicating with margaritas, of course, because I am ALREADY doing that.) How can I make him understand that he can’t act this way?

PS. Don’t suggest taking away privileges, because he has already lost phone, TV, xbox and computer. He hasn’t had ANY of those since the last detentions(a week or two ago.) And he hasn’t been allowed to go anywhere on weekends. Doesn’t even bother him, he is totally unaffected by ANYTHING we take away.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!