My daughter has always expressed a great amount of creativity, most of it channeled well. One thing I began to notice during our last year of school was a sudden disinterest in creativity. As though suddenly it wasn’t cool anymore for her to think up projects, or make up games. Around this time she also started coming home telling me she was bored all the time.

Now, not being academically stimulated is one thing. Choosing to be bored all the time is entirely different. It began to become such an issue for us that we would get  in to arguments about it. I realize now she didn’t really know how else to convey to me that she was not being challenged. I also now realize that she was really trying to fit in, because it’s really hard to be the “smart kid”. She was the kid in the class who’d raise their hands, and all the other kids would groan. She started to feel awkward about her performance in the classroom, and actually started acting out, in part, I believe to fit in more.

This of course, drove her teachers crazy, and made me pretty unhappy. The further and further we get from the traditional classroom setting the more she’s thriving. Her creativity is back in full force and she’s excited to express herself not only in art class, but in literature, science and recently her music class. I’m thrilled to have my joyful daughter back.

-CM