Grades...

A year ago if you would have told me my daughter would have 2 F's and a D I would have said no way. She was on the honor roll in middle school and seemed to have a good work ethic. The beginning of the year was hard for her being at a new school in a new school district and we cut her a little slack as she had a lot going on. Once soccer season was over we figured she would have more time to catch up with things. She did a pretty good job to keep her grades up, but she was still a long way off of her honor roll grades of last year.

So we did the natural thing that most parents do when bad grades come up, we grounded her. At first it was from her cell phone, then it was from TV, now she can't hardly do anything. It seems a bit overkill to us but it doesn't seem like anything is working. We really feel like we're losing her to laziness. She's a smart girl and she can do a lot when she puts her mind to it, but she seems to be resigned to living a lazy life. She has little motivation to do anything above and beyond. A lot of people tell me that's just the way teens are these days, but I'm not typically one to be satisfied with the status quo. It's just hard to instill your beliefs on someone else. We are at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. My wife and I are seeing a councilor in search of some professional advice.

For the time being we have tried to take a more positive approach. We're giving her more opportunities to win things back and really trying to get her to put forth some effort. It seems like it's working but it's just not consistent. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the councilor says...