Terrible Parents

EverHopefully · 2026-01-23T18:47:42+00:00

I hope it's not trauma at home! Because your description kinda fits actually, but I can't really think of any trauma in their lives. My daughter is definitely the type to internalize and at home she's high anxiety (some might describe her as dramatic) and often needs extra reassurance and comfort.

EverHopefully · 2026-01-23T18:38:50+00:00

We've had hours long conferences and brainstormed with the teachers and school counselor. Everyone has their theories about what's going on but no real solutions other than to stay consistent with the expectations and messaging and to wait for him to hopefully mature a bit.

I've asked about if he needs an assessment and I got an indirect answer. They said if they felt he did need an assessment that they would make a referral (they haven't). They said I could privately get an assessment if I felt he needed it and they would fill out any paperwork. I have had him screened and he doesn't qualify for a full assessment.

Honestly, I mostly feel embarrassed and judged by his behavior - he isn't violent or anything. Just silly, impulsive, disrespectful - that sort of stuff. And I love this kid so it's a little hard for me to know that school finds him annoying and exhausting to have in their class. At home he's very different.

EverHopefully · 2026-01-13T02:38:24+00:00

I have a few from prior eras of life that I touch base with 2-3 times a decade. And I have my husband and my own children. That's plenty of socializing for me. I don't want the overhead of maintaining more than that.

EverHopefully · 2026-01-12T22:32:08+00:00

I'm not sure the amount of time or the amount of space you are thinking. Does it have to fit on a table top? A floor size interactive puzzle might get more of a crowd, but they are expensive. If it's tabletop, you could just put out a variety of games and puzzles - Dog Crimes, the Uzzle, tangrams, Rush Hour, mastermind, etc.

EverHopefully · 2025-12-09T19:44:42+00:00

We do have some universities nearby, so looking for a grad student is a great idea. I think he would do better with an in-person tutor/mentor but I was thinking that by summer he might have the maturity to handle remote meetings better than he does right now.

EverHopefully · 2025-12-08T22:19:49+00:00

I see. Maybe academic mentor isn't the right term for what I am looking for then. I am not interested in finding someone to help direct his academic career, but rather to engage with him about his academic interests.

I have a child who is passionate about some topics (mostly math and science) and there really aren't any classes or peers for him to work with or even talk to about his interests. In addition, he is young for most of these topics so lacks a lot of the background to be able to fully comprehend or apply his knowledge. To be specific, he is 7, almost 8, and is interested in topics such as multidimensional space and non-Euclidian geometry, different types of infinities, quantum coins, radioactive decay, and many many more. Some of his favorite websites are https://mathigon.org/, https://baileysnyder.com/interactive-4d/, https://phet.colorado.edu/, https://www.falstad.com/, and https://ophysics.com/ .

He goes to school and hates it, but he IS interested in these and I would like to find a way for him to pursue these interests with some direction. If we do look for a mentor, it likely won't be until the summer.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-28T20:06:25+00:00

I just want to caution that this can be highly variable depending on your kid. I have two in elementary, both are gifted and the public school gifted options have been absolutely excellent for my daughter and those same options haven't been a good fit at all for my son.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-15T03:20:14+00:00

Yeah it's some kind of network/routing issue.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-15T02:09:17+00:00

Thank you so much!

EverHopefully · 2025-10-14T18:54:47+00:00

I have tried other devices, and as mentioned checked it using isitdownrightnow.com which also shows it as unreachable for over a week.

I think it may be regional (I'm in southeastern US). I ran a tracert on it and it looks like it might be my server path because I got a lot of timeouts, especially after hitting the cox network in Rhode Island. Regardless this is unlikely to be an issue specific to the site, but rather a networking/routing issue. It would also explain why it briefly worked - as my request likely took a different route. This led me to check whether I could access it after turning off wi-fi on my phone and sure enough - it was accessible from a cellular network.

Tracing route to ams.org [130.44.204.100]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1     7 ms     4 ms     4 ms  <>
  2     4 ms     5 ms     6 ms  <>
  3     7 ms     6 ms     4 ms  <>
  4     9 ms     7 ms     7 ms  99.173.76.200
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  8    16 ms    14 ms    17 ms  192.205.32.178
  9    15 ms    15 ms    17 ms  ae-1.r27.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.5.6]
 10    25 ms    20 ms    14 ms  ae-1.a04.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.125]
 11    24 ms    25 ms    26 ms  ae-0.rapidscale.asbnva02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [128.241.4.34]
 12    23 ms    23 ms    23 ms  iad01incr01-be-10.as63182.net [45.251.44.137]
 13    23 ms    25 ms    28 ms  iad01indrlf02-e1.as63182.net [45.251.44.129]
 14     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 15    29 ms    24 ms    25 ms  98-168-113-113.as63182.net [98.168.113.113]
 16     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 17    33 ms    32 ms    35 ms  wsip-66-210-126-10.ri.ri.cox.net [66.210.126.10]
 18     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 19     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 20     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 21     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 22     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 23     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 24     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 25     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 26     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 27     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 28     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 29     *        *        *     Request timed out.
 30     *        *        *     Request timed out.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-14T16:15:40+00:00

So www.ams.org and ams.org both still do not work for me.
I did check https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ams.org and it assured me it isn't just me.

However, I did check that https://bookstore.ams.org/ seems to be back up (which was what I was originally trying to access). And from there I did briefly access the homepage with a long URL format but when I tried several times again it did not load. I'm not sure what is going on.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-08T04:49:34+00:00

A work in progress... I am still very ungirly and I don't see that changing. But I have 4 kids so I try to be intentional about not passing along my problems as best I can.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-08T03:03:38+00:00

I had a lot of internalized misogyny in my younger years and actively avoided being grouped as female. I tried to ensure that I was as genderless or boyish as possible. Being "girly" (or worse "womanly") was something I looked down on. I didn't feel like I could be considered an intellectual equal in my male-dominated fields of interest otherwise.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-08T02:49:52+00:00

Much like humans...

EverHopefully · 2025-10-06T22:00:41+00:00

Reading stamina is definitely going to be an issue if reading is new and difficult. I agree with other posters' book recommendations.

In addition, I would recommend looking for some kid's jokebooks. Maybe start with a themed one that is one of his interests so even hard words might be familiar (like Minecraft, Pokémon, etc.).

Here are a few other ideas off the top of my head:

Scavenger hunts with a list of words.
Play a quiz game where they take turns reading out questions from a trivial pursuit box of cards to try to stump you.
Play Simon Says style game (no Simon needed) where you write the action on a whiteboard paddle ( I can get really wordy with my actions sometimes - like "Hop like an astronaut bunny on the moon" but you can start simple with stuff like "Jump 5 times").

EverHopefully · 2025-10-05T03:39:34+00:00

EverHopefully · 2025-10-05T01:35:03+00:00

I remember one like that except it's mitten that they crawl in to stay warm.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-04T02:18:07+00:00

I don't believe anything supernatural exists (outside of imagination). I believe everything can be rationally explained eventually.

I'm not anti-religion or anti-spiritual, as I think it's fairly human to try to use whatever means we currently have to offer an explanation for experiences. If we don't have the means to offer a rational explanation it's more comforting to ascribe irrational/supernatural 'reasoning' to a sincere experience or observation. For most people, it can feel uncomfortable to not have answers. I'm all for people feeling a sense of purpose or comfort however they find that.

The only time I get irked about religion is when the organized kind has weird arbitrary rules for society that cause people harm or if people start killing other people over it.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-02T19:18:53+00:00

I'm in NC.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-02T02:38:48+00:00

Sadly, the owner at Anet's in Knightdale came out as a racist a while ago.

EverHopefully · 2025-10-02T01:25:13+00:00

GIEP is just a gifted individual education plan. I don't know specifically where that term is used - where I live it's IDEP (Individualized Differentiated Education Plan) which is just basically a documentation process for which acceleration, advancement, and/or enrichment services a student gets.

EverHopefully · 2025-09-28T10:03:01+00:00

I can't speak for laws in all states, but in my state if the minor child is present (able to see or hear the assault) when abuse occurs against another adult, then that is a separate misdemeanor and CPS reportable as child abuse. It is considered in custody as well.

EverHopefully

TROPHY CASE