Question
My 10-year-old son, who is in fifth grade, is having some trouble at school. At this parent-teacher conference, his teacher expressed he is too talkative, rushing his work, and has poor penmanship. She's given him zeroes because she can't read his handwriting. We have an expectation he maintain As and Bs, and he has a B- and a C. Our son was in the meeting and acted unconcerned and disrespectful toward his teacher. After this meeting we created a daily check-in sheet related to these issues. He has to have the sheet signed 10 days in a row to end the check-in sheet. He forgot the first day and experienced the consequences that evening - missing out on time with friends and privileges. He remembered the next two days and had it signed and approved by his teacher. On the third day, his teacher signed it but noted he wasn't taking his time that day and he now has three Cs. He was extremely frustrated, which I understand, but decided he was just going to fail his math test rather than keep working on improving. This morning I took his playing cards and he said "I hate my life. I just want to end my life." I was alarmed at this response. I am not sure how to proceed or what to do next.
