Words from Parents and Dragonfly Wednesday

Here is a quote I heard from a parent last week whose child is working his tail off but still getting low grades.  It is what she really wanted to say to a relative at the family get together who was bragging about her "gifted" son who just happens to be the same age...

"Yes, it is good to see you again [name of relative]!  I'm thrilled to hear all about your perfect son, my you seem so proud that he has straight A's, on the honor roll, and on the varsity team as a freshman cause you just spend the last 30 minutes gloating.  You must be the most amazing parent to have "raised" such a talented and intelligent gift to this world.  You must want a pat on the back or a medal of honor since all you do is brag about this amazing human being that loves everyone and is the most popular kid in school so obviously everyone loves him too.  But as I stood there nodding my head and smiling I really wanted to say this -  

Not everyone lives in the world of perfection, some of us are outliers on the outskirts watching from the sidelines.  Here is a list of my son's accomplishments.  My son's is on an IEP and this year we are doing much better since 3 of his 5 teachers are actually complying with his IEP (last year only one teacher complied) so I've only had to write a dozen emails and have a handful of meetings so far this year.  He now has a 2.0 so we are thrilled that he doesn't have any F's like he did last year (remember there were less teachers on board with his IEP).  So you can see there's no Honor Roll kid here.  He is on a few sports team but since the coaches care more about winning than developing young athletics he sits the bench.  This has opened many doors to being picked on and bullied by the other players some of which sit the bench with him but if they get rid of him they would have more room on the bench and the coach may notice them.  As his mother, I've tried to encourage him to focus his energy on things he is better at but he has a passion for these sports and not mature enough to know that he will never be given a chance since his school is all about the gifted and talented kids.  Oh don't worry my son's bench sitting will not cause all those college scouts to stop looking at your child.  Now granted I'm sure my son might do better athletically if we were spending the thousands of dollars on sports training like you are but we are using that money on his tutors and therapist.  Well, I think I've taken about the same amount of time you took bragging about your son to me so I'll let you go back to the land of Perfect and I'll get back to my reality.  Have a good Thanksgiving!"