Hard Knocks

Ever known someone who seemed to HAVE to do everything the hard way? Someone who can’t learn from other’s experiences but has to learn from their own experience? Well I have one of those as my middle kid. She was 7 years, 9 months old when I adopted her from China and had been in the orphanage since she was around 3. I don’t know how much of her being this way is pure personality and how much is her orphanage experience (or lack there of). C has seen me help her sister study for tests and occasionally even asks me to quiz her. But as she gets older (11 this past June) she is becoming more and more the ‘know it all’. She doesn’t have to read instructions – she knows how to do it! When I try to tell her how to do something, she looks at me as if I was speaking some strange language or like she is just tolerating my speaking, but not really listening. She is the one I really worry about becoming a teenager. If she is this hard-headed and know it all at 11, she will be a danger to herself when she is 15. Anyway, she had a test on Friday, the teacher had given them all study guides and even gave them an extra day to prepare. The teacher is really good about emailing parents about tests and other stuff so I knew she was having the test. I had asked her if she wanted me to help her study – “no, mama, the test isn’t until Friday – I have plenty of time”. Well she failed the test (along with most of the class). I asked her why she didn’t ask for help studying, her reply ‘I knew it so I didn’t have to study’. Yeah, kid, you knew it so well, you failed the test. Maybe she will learn and ask for help the next time --- but I’m not holding my breath. This one is going through the school of hard knocks.