My DS has lost his mind.

[LindsayDunn228]

This is one of the reasons why I think kids shouldn't have a cell phone

I got a cell when I started driving and it stayed in the car in case I had an emergency (with the car).

 

[Wishing on a star]

Just a thought, for what it's worth.

My friends son (15) who has been diagnosed with a mood disorder and possibly bi-polar can not sit in an assembly. He feels too confined and trapped. He gets anxious and very nervous in situations like this and feels as though he has no control.
The school has allowed him to make other arrangements if there is an assembly. He will usually sit in a class with another teacher who is available.

I was thinking along similar lines! You say he has not been overtly causing any trouble. Has your DS ever mentioned issues like this, or hypersensitive hearing, or any other issue like that? It sounds as if there may be a bona-fide issue. Would the school consider allowing your DS to go to the Library, or wherever, during large assemblies?

I don't see why the assembly would have to be so mandatory. It's not like he is missing an exam in Calculus. And, this would solve the problem of him calling you and getting into trouble. Sounds like a simple solution.

Instead of getting angry and letting him know that he has lost his mind, I think I would try having a straitforward discussion with him. Try to sort thru what happened.

Most kids are happy to get out of academics for something like this.

 

[MagicalMom]

Now that just cracked me up!

Which is your more difficult child? My oldest is a million times more difficult than the youngest!

My 15yo is the most difficult lately. You know, I'm the bad Mom that won't let her pierce her lip or set her own hours at school. Just to be opn the safe side, each time she brings a new boy Mom I will confront him & ask "Is your Mom Mushy?"

When DD got home I found out that she was forced to watch a Disney planning video in school today! And to plan a trip to Disney. As "anti-Disney" as she's been lately I'll consider that punnishment enough!

 

[leighe]

I wonder if they have pay phones they can use between classes.

We had to have the pay phones taken out of our school because we had a rash of kids calling in bomb threats so the building would be evacuated and the kids would get to go outside and mill around the parking lot for hours. (This was before the total proliferation of cell phones.) As a high school teacher I would just like to say: Teenagers are nuts.

But I love them.

 

[MrsPete]

Just a thought, for what it's worth.

My friends son (15) who has been diagnosed with a mood disorder and possibly bi-polar can not sit in an assembly. He feels too confined and trapped. He gets anxious and very nervous in situations like this and feels as though he has no control.
The school has allowed him to make other arrangements if there is an assembly. He will usually sit in a class with another teacher who is available.

Okay, so he could stand quietly in the back of the auditorium, or he could stand on the sides. He could be allowed to sit in the back so that there's no one behind him/beside him. He could walk around a little, if that helped. But allowing him to miss the assembly is rewarding negative behavior.

 

[MushyMushy]

I was thinking along similar lines! You say he has not been overtly causing any trouble. Has your DS ever mentioned issues like this, or hypersensitive hearing, or any other issue like that? It sounds as if there may be a bona-fide issue. Would the school consider allowing your DS to go to the Library, or wherever, during large assemblies?

I don't see why the assembly would have to be so mandatory. It's not like he is missing an exam in Calculus. And, this would solve the problem of him calling you and getting into trouble. Sounds like a simple solution.

Instead of getting angry and letting him know that he has lost his mind, I think I would try having a straitforward discussion with him. Try to sort thru what happened.

Most kids are happy to get out of academics for something like this.

Noooo, he had to miss Vo-tech for the assembly and he loves vo-tech! He was just mad to miss an afternoon of his welding class. I'm glad he loves it that much.

If I felt like he had a real issue with sitting in assemblies, I'd be the first one trying to work out an arrangement with the school. But he's just being lazy and not wanting to be IN school. He wants to go late and miss school, and has called me several other times to get me to pick him up early -- AFTER vo-tech. He has a friend who can get out on work release, so he's been hassling me to sign him out and let him go with his friend.

Not happening.

 

[MrsPete]

I don't see why the assembly would have to be so mandatory. It's not like he is missing an exam in Calculus.

Some assemblies are not all that important: awards assemblies, author talks, etc. Others ARE tremendously important: the grade-level meeting at the beginning of each school year, for example, at which the administrators explain any important changes and rules that might apply to that grade. And the graduation-preparation assembly is pretty important for anyone who plans to walk across the stage.

 

[MushyMushy]

Okay, so he could stand quietly in the back of the auditorium, or he could stand on the sides. He could be allowed to sit in the back so that there's no one behind him/beside him. He could walk around a little, if that helped. But allowing him to miss the assembly is rewarding negative behavior.

He and his friends just don't think the assemblies are "cool," anyway. Teachers monitor the auditorium very well to make sure the kids are well behaved and some of them just don't like it. DS is one of them. He thinks they're "lame."

And like I said, if he had some auditory issues, I'd be the first one trying to make other arrangements for him, but that's not the case.

 

[powellrj]

I feel your pain. My oldest was by far the most difficult of our 3. I could write a book about the things he did. My middle is now 15 and I keep telling him I learned from the master (his brother) when he tries to pull things.

With our oldest when he was that age we would have the 'bus" talk.

The great bus of life can take many roads....

The college road.....

THe job road....

The military road....

Its up to you which road you take. Study and do well in school and you will take the college bus.

Don't take school seriously and you will be on the job bus.....

Really screw things up and you will be on the military bus.

Well, we rode the college bus for awhile, then we rode the job bus for awhile, but we ended up on the military bus.

The kids heard the bus talk so many times you only have to say, "do we need the bus talk" and thats enough to staighten them up.

When they really get out of hand I just have to tell them I have already put one kid on the military bus and there is always room for another.

In his defense, he decided to join the army on his own, but had he not done it himself, I was very very close to putting him on the bus myself.