Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
Yeah sounds a lot like me. I actually flunked out of university in my first semester (I mean I could've stayed but 4 F's was hard to stomach) just because it was such a culture shock academically. I went from not trying in highschool... to trying to pull that at college. Also, the freedom was another factor. I did go back and get an engineering degree.That's the issue, 100%. I was the same way. My second grade teacher suggested to my parents that I be put on Ritalin because I wasn't paying attention (despite high performance). I was just bored. I coasted through school with top marks until I hit a wall with upper level university math. It has taken most of my adult life to realize the wrong ratio of talent to work ethic has cost me some success. I try to reward long-term effort over achievement with my kids. They got a good hand in the genetic lottery and doing well in school is a minimum bar.
This is a tough one for me. I generally default to minimal screen time for the kids despite that I'm a huge gamer and don't have a problem in abstract. They get a few hours a week of Minecraft, always with me playing alongside, or we'll watch a few episodes of a show together on the weekends. Anything that's too stupid for me to stomach, we don't do. They don't have individual devices and get zero un-curated shows or YouTube. My wife and I cut cable in favor of streaming almost 15 years ago so there's no background TV in our house, but we struggle to be good role models of phone use. I gave my son a Kindle very early and he's a voracious reader.
I think it has served the kids well. They're present in the house in a way that their cousins are not. My wife's sister's kids have their faces plugged into mobile devices all the time and they just look surprised and confused if you try to talk to them. It's weird
My oldest seems to be like that too. Picks up concepts really fast. Even in kindergarten, right now they're teaching letters - something he self taught himself at around 2. I already think he has ADHD, so will be interesting to see how school really goes.