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Post Info TOPIC: My son is a nerd


The Smiling T.L. Fan

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Posts: 4355
Date: Jan 29, 2007
My son is a nerd



http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

My poor son is a nerd and he's getting picked on but I found this article thought it might help, It's a great article if you have time to read,...

-- Edited by everbran at 07:41, 2007-01-30

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Twilight Posting Princess

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Posts: 1352
Date: Jan 30, 2007

tina, the link isn't working (i think there may be a problem posting links here since i couldn't get mine to work yesterday either). anyway all i'm seeing is a list of things about startups....nothing on bullying.

kris


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Original Soap Dish Diva

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Date: Jan 30, 2007

That was quite a long article, and I admit to having barely scanned the centre section of it. I think the kid that wrote it would have been better off to have stopped at "nerds aren't popular because they don't care enough about it to join in the competition". I also objected strenuously to lumping nerds and smart kids in the same category. From what I've read and experienced on the subject, "nerds" are lacking in most social skills, choosing to concentrate upon esoteric pursuits, such as creating programmes for computers, etc.

I raised a houseful of "nerds" according to the author of the article, yet how would the author explain 2 high school presidents, three ski coaches and one social director of the same school? How would the author explain a list of beautiful girl friends and busy social calendars? I suppose the difference is the nature of the schools, and the importance of conforming...in other words, the ethos of the parents and communities involved.

And just for the record, "nerds" are now doing very well for themselves in the real world (outside school) with independent businesses centering upon technology. As one young (labelled nerd by the producers of the segment) entrepreneur on Sixty Minutes Sunday night said, "nerds could very well rule the world, but we don't want to".

So, Tina, fear not! Your son will be just fine. He'll be the kid that reads all the "how-to" manuals (written by fiendishly brilliant Asian engineers and generally are so abstruse as to give you a headache after 2 paragraphs), and can charge his classmates when he installs their latest "bloatware" that microsoft will be marketing next month. He'll be the go-to guy when there's a system crash his classmates can't fix, or the teachers, for that matter. And by the time he's 25, he'll have his own company that he can operate from a beach in the tropics or a cafe in Budapest if that suits him. And there will be plenty of young companions clamouring for his attention.

And the most popular football dumbass will be wondering what the hell happened to his life when he barely scrapes through university and can't find the kind of job that showers him with the sort of attention he got whle still in high school. He'll be the guy that won't show up for any reunions because he's either broke, fat or miserable...maybe all three. I believe in karma. It's time for the "nerds" to shine and the "popular" kids to catch a dose of reality. If that's the nature of high schools across the nation, could it be time for parents to rethink where they send their kids for the four years? I know that if I had to do it all over again (god forbid), I'd never subject my children to the horrors of that mentality.

-- Edited by KaeEll at 11:38, 2007-01-30

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The Smiling T.L. Fan

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Date: Jan 30, 2007

Well I can say from experience of attending a HS reunion or two that the nerds did very well for themselves and the jock is about 300 pounds of blubber!

But I feel so bad for my son, and I think the article gave him a new perspective, it was long though!!

I hope by Senior year in HS he will grow quite a bit, he's a bit on the small side, has red hair, braces, plays the tuba and is in the top 5% of his class. But he also is good looking as has a great personality. My uncles began HS small but by Senior year they grew and caught up with everyone else.

But my son is not really in to any sports, We tried everything.

I think this is affecting his confidence, so I hope that won't affect him going for the gold when the time comes.

At least he does have a couple of really good friends and told him that's all that matters, life is not a popularity contest.

He says the most popular girl in school is a really big bitch, she's wealthy and mean to everyone. I'd love to have a word with her parents!

And I also told my son how I started out popular but left that group to hang with the nerds because the popular kids were into partying and sex before I was ready. So sometimes being popular isn't even worth the effort.

Any advice is welcome!

PS Kris copy and paste the link, see if that works


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Long Lost DiMera Daughter

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Posts: 8346
Date: Jan 30, 2007

Tina I may copy and paste it into a blog...should be interesting to see the responses

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Original Soap Dish Diva

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Posts: 6782
Date: Jan 30, 2007

TinaLord68 wrote:


But my son is not really in to any sports, We tried everything.

>


 



Tina, has your son tried all the individual sports rather than the typical school team ones? My guys had far more success in those than they did in the school stuff (football, basketball, baseball, etc.), as they mostly competed against themselves, but once their confidence levels rose, they were racing all over the place and having a ball. They all now coach either snow boarding or skiing just for the fun of it.

I wouldn't let my sons learn how to skate becasue I was terrified they'd want to play hockey, and that would have interfered with our skiing schedules, lol. As it turns out, hockey was never an interest, thank goodness.

Anyway, ask him if he'd like to take lessons at a local club for a few winters. It's certainly not too late for him to begin! My husband didn't learn to ski until he was in university and my dad was in his fifties!

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The Smiling T.L. Fan

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Posts: 4355
Date: Jan 30, 2007

We did soccer and hockey, and he's just not aggressive, although he loves to skate. He does track in the Spring. And he takes guitar lessons, wait until the girls hear him play!! ha ha

another mom that has similar problems says there is actually a prayer group for this type of thing, the bullying or whatever. I'm going to try that too, and take him to a church group on Wednesdays. I have always been really proactive with getting him to meet lots of kids his age.

He was actually really popular until we moved here, so that kind of sucks, but we had to make the move.

But I"m not wanting him to be popular exaclty, just well liked. The popular kids tend to just get in trouble trying to prove they're cool....



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