Here Is How to Help a Gifted Kid When They Seem Lazy or Unmotivated

You know your child is gifted when it takes them half the time to finish a task than it takes others. Still, getting your kid to complete or even start the assignment is often a struggle. This can lead to disappointing report cards. So what has happened - is your kid just plain lazy? What buttons could you push so that they become more interested in school?

According to Psychologist Ellen Braaten, Ph.D., executive director of the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program, chair of pediatric neuropsychological assessment at Massachusetts General Hospital, and author of Bright Kids Who Couldn't Care Less: How to Rekindle Your Child's Motivation, one possible reason is that they don't know where they are in the process. Many kids get frustrated because they feel like they've been working for too long and can't estimate how close they are to the end of the project. Gifted kids may feel they don't have the skill set to finish a task because they made many mistakes, careless errors, or went down a path they weren't supposed to.

A parent can support their child by helping them find out where they are in the process and what they still need to finish. The child may not be able to articulate the reason if asked an open-ended question. Some suitable questions to ask are:

• Do you have everything you need?
• Do you know what you're doing?
• Can you tell me what questions you need to answer on this worksheet?

Parents get anxious that their children won't live up to their full potential, so they tend to micromanage their gifted kids. This is when parents start putting pressure on the kids - when under pressure, kids often refuse to do things. Parents want their kids to be the best at too many subjects. And sometimes what a child is gifted with is not a subject area they are passionate about. Make sure you're aligning your child's abilities with activities that bring them meaning and joy.

For those not gifted, struggle is something familiar, whereas, for your gifted kid, a lot of things come easily. When the gifted child comes upon something they struggle with, they also get easily frustrated. In other words, they're not used to working hard on something, and you'll have to help them learn how to do it.