NANA SAYS IT IS DIFFICULT WHEN CHILDREN TURN OFF SCHOOL

A colleauge expressed her dilemma. She is worried about her son who is in High School. He is 15 and doesn't care about school anymore. He is not trying. Teenagers are a hard group to influence. School is such an important part of the picture. We often tie school with the future. "You need to get good grades to go to university!" What does a 15 year old care about university or paying the bills one day? Too young to pull out of school for a year and work to get some life experience. Is there a subject he likes? Is there something he enjoys doing? Art? Marathon running? Football? Hockey? History? Math? Is he with a group of friends that are also turned off school? Could there be a mood disorder? Depressed? Some anxiety? Is he misbehaving at school or just not finishing his homework? When doing family therapy perodically in my career, these would be some of the areas to be explored. Sitting down as a parent and not just talking with our children but actually listening works better.  Hopefully, my colleague is talking with the school and the teachers to receive some guidance. Parenting is never easy. Especially with teenagers! No they have not changed with this generation. Even Socrates expressed his concern about the youth of his day.