Important Conversation #2: Know-It-Alls

This Wednesday at Assembly, Mrs. Quarles pulled me aside and told me, in the nicest way possible, that Leia Rose was starting to be a know-it-all: getting frustrated when she isn't called upon, making exclamations, sometimes just yelling answers out so she wouldn't have to be called on. It took me a while to figure this out because Mrs. Quarles didn't use the word "know-it-all" of course and worded everything as nicely as possible. But I knew this might someday be a problem with Leia Rose just because she IS so very smart, . . . and could probably give a fifth grader a run for thier money in Science and History (although not in language arts, of course). Anyway, I just have a horrible memory of one particular child I know at one particular age and how HORRIBLE this can get if it is not nipped in the bud. So, darn it, I was going to nip this in the bud. : ) So, I called two people: Laura (both Shenan's mom and a psychiatrist) and my Mom. Laura said, "Make your point to Leia and keep it simple and short." And Mom said, "Play school and demonstrate." So I did both. First I had a long conversation (during our snuggling time, just like our first important conversation) with Leia about being respectful of her classmates. I explained that getting frustrated and making sounds when you're not called on, . . . and not giving someone else a chance to answer is showing disrespect to her friends. I explained what a know-it-all is and that she wasn't one, . . . but that she could become one if she didn't continue with respect in this way. I told her to imagine that there are 26 kids in her class, . . . and that she should only be called on ONCE out of every 26 times if everyone raised his or her hand! (I'm SO glad she understood that analogy.) Then I told her that there's a little trick that teacher's learn in "Teacher School": "Because you are such a good student, Leia, every time Mrs. Quarles sees you raise your hand she says to herself, 'Oh, I see that Leia Rose knows the answer! Yay!' So by raising your hand, you have already proven yourself, okay? Of course, . . . don't EVER raise your hand if you DON'T know the answer, because then the trick wouldn't work anymore." Leia laughed and laughed. Well, the whole thing seemed to work. I'll have to check up on it with Mrs. Quarles later and see if this did the job, . . . or if we'll have to continue reiterating. I be sure to report if it's the latter.