As a mother, I want to teach my son to advocate for his own health. If he truly does not feel well enough mentally or physically to go to school, I let him rest that day. I do ask him to use his words and tell me why he doesn’t want to go to school. School is a lot; life is a lot. I want my teenager to take self-care days if he needs them. He does not abuse this, and he is back to school next day, and all is good. He still maintains good grades and gets along…
My daughter started struggling with her organization in grade 5. Her male teacher would call her lazy and intimidate her to try and get her to do homework. Her best friend turned on her in grade 7, and my daughter started to show signs of anxiety and was sick a lot. In grade 8, she couldn’t go to school in the last month and only dragged herself in to graduate. In the summer of grade 8, we paid $3,000 for the psychoeducational assessment, which showed ADHD-I and anxiety, along with gifted levels of English comprehension and writing. She had low…
When he was just a baby, my second-born did not like crowds. At family functions, he would go to the quietest spot until he just could not take it anymore and would beg to go home. He was always anxious as a child. He began saying he was quitting school when he was 9 years old. At 11 years old, he was diagnosed with diabetes; this did not help his anxieties, as he was the only child in our school with this disease at the time. At 12, he told us he was gay. I had hoped that this would…
My son dislikes going to school. It started in grade 4. His teacher bullied and embarrassed him because he wasn’t comfortable performing/speaking in front of the class. Grades 5 and 6 were better due to a great teacher. Grades 7 and 8 were also pretty good. The issues started again in grade 9. The school counsellor and a few teachers made him feel something was wrong with him. Grade 10 has been the worst. Started high school. Too many people. Teachers either said he has a problem because he was rude or just didn’t care if he was there or…
My kid would not get out of bed for 3-4 days at a time. I was scared, terrified. We were able to get her into a youth residence to help start her mental health healing. She did very well at the in-house schooling. The program allows a maximum stay of only 3 weeks, so while it was a total blessing and introduced us to a lot of very helpful resources, it was only a reprieve, not a solution.
Being from a divorced family, my child has struggled with two different parenting techniques, along with a few teachers who also do not condone her behaviour. Without a calm, understanding, and encouraging environment, I believe we take steps backward in not helping these children, and it would be very helpful to have everyone on the same page, working together in a more personal environment.
My son was socially awkward from day one in school; the isolation started very young, and the teachers kept encouraging me to focus on play dates outside of school. I did my best, but eventually, the playdate invitations weren’t reciprocated, and I gave up. We had our own social support network of kids with whom my son connected, but it didn’t help him at school – where he spends 80% of his time. He has been the victim of social isolation his entire school experience thus far. School staff have had limited skills and ability to assist with this, and…
Our son was doing OK in high school in the first couple of years. In grade 9, he was a fraction away from being an honours student, but was constantly being bullied, and the staff just didn’t seem sure of how best to support him. Previously, it had been suggested he may have autism, but he was “doing well” in class so it wasn’t thought that he needed more support or further assessment. At the start of grade 10, there were a couple of bullying incidents within the same day; this put him in bed for a couple of days…
My daughter is not defiant or lazy. She is not mean, weird, or difficult. She has anxiety. She has a mental health condition that makes it so hard for her to get to school and do what is expected of her. She feels a level of stress and worry that is not normal. She lives her life being overwhelmed, overthinking everything, and not seeing anything positive about herself or her life. Although school is important, my girl’s well-being is much more important. So, welcome all children into your classrooms with open arms. Tell them how happy you are to see…
From grade 1 through to the end of grade 8, my son struggled with the school system. He was diagnosed with ADHD in grade 2. The general response from teachers and administrators was, “Well, we have other students on IEPs so we get it.” or “My child has….” As they say, “If you’ve met one person with ADHD, you’ve met exactly one person with ADHD.” I don’t care what worked for Billy and Susie – they aren’t my child. I explained my son’s needs – or my awareness of his needs – like this: You are his teacher. Your expertise…
