Good point. If she is piking/wagging from school for whatever reason, it's best to have a talk with the child/kid/teen involved about what they are doing and so forth, in private and not in a confrontational situation to make it easier and/or reduce chances of the teen "rebelling" against the parent. That way it makes it easier on the kid involved to let it out if there are problems surrounding them.

That question varies from student to student... the one and only answer to this question can only be given by your daughter herself. I can only speculate based on what I have seen in my own family. Since she is second child, she could have probably grown feeling over-shadowed by the older child. As if she felt the older one was smarter. Meaning the older one was the athletic, the one with good grades, the "better" student and she was make the assumption that the older one was or is the "better" child. This happened in my own family, with my younger sister, she always felt opaqued by my older sister and I. Since we where always the ones bringing the excellent grades home... she felt dumb... she felt that our parents appreciated us more for it. Instead of trying to achieve academically and make her way up a pretty steep latter of academic excellence, she went the other way. She caught our parents attention alright... but it was due to her poor attendance to school, very low grades, etc. The only suggestion I have... is a work program... make her feel how a low paying job feels like.

Replying to krazygoddess
Yea ok well I have a sister that skips too,but it's because people at school are calling her "things." I don't really know she won't open up to anyone,but all I know is that she hates the enviorment(the school),so check if your daughter even likes the school.

as to why they skip school
Why Do Kids Skip School?

Hey I'm 16 and I skipped school I thinmk 3 times in my life I'm a guy and I did it because I was getting picked on and because I didnt truly see the importance in school but if its ok with you I might suggest something like otp the outdoor therapudic program which is kinda like a 5 month counseling daily kinda thing where you live there and go to school there are no fences or anything its just a home you live in and you visit your family a week a month and get fed great I know this because I went there and it really works I hope I helped some...

-reply by bobby jax

I'm currently in high school and experience these circumstances daily. Kids skip school for a number of reasons but I believe there are some circumstances where it should be acceptable to "skip" school. I refer to the term in meaning that you come to school then after a certain class you just leave and miss the rest of the day. Kids that engage in skipping school for its entirety daily definitely need some guidance. However, a decent student may see no need in attending certain classes on a given day. For example, after AP Testing at my school, many smart students just leave after the test despite having class the rest of the day. They are overwhelmed with the work and just need a break. Most teachers understand and don't penalize these students for unexcused absences on certain days. There are also circumstances where kids want to get out and get some fast food during the lunch period. It is technically skipping school because they are leaving school grounds and are given Saturday school if they are caught. Overall, I feel that students need to be motivated to get good grades and eventually try to get into college. Also, recently with school coming to a close for summer, some students have parties during the school day when their parents are at work which leads to other kids to skip school to attend their parties.

From personal experience, there was one point of time when I skipped school because I was having friendship problems. High school is very stressful academic-wise, and having problems with friends makes school a lot worst because there were no peers to support me when I was going through difficult times. I was 17 then, so this doesn't just happen to young children.

What you should do is talk to her and show her that you are there for her. Watching her is not really going to help, because you may interpret her behavior wrongly and that is not going to help matters. Like so what if you notice that she didn't hand in her homework or was late for school? You wouldn't understand why, and you probably already know this anyway. Also, grounding is a bad solution. If I was grounded by my parents, I would dislike them and all the more wish to do opposite of whatever they want of me. This is how the mind of a teenager works, and that's why it's the rebellious stage. Now that I'm a little older, I think that some of my thinking was quite juvenile, but nevertheless, it was an unavoidable stage and there is no point trying to knock sense into your kids by treating them like kids. Do treat her like an adult and talk to her, and she will be more willing to share her problems with you.

Im a child of 14 and the only few reasons I can think of her skipping school is:
Older boyfriend, do you know about her 'relationship status'?
Being bullied, often puts people off school.
Not liking the teachers or she got told off for something she didn't do and shes not happy?
Sit her on here bed and talk to her, I would if I had kids, don't let her go until she gives you a reason why, and good luck, hope you get to the bottom of it, it might be something silly though.

This post has been edited by chappill: Jun 2 2008, 04:34 PM

Why I skipped school.
Why Do Kids Skip School?

Replying to krazygoddess
As a kid I always played sick to stay home from school. When I got to middle and then H.S. My parents were not around much so I skipped constantly. My reasons for not going to school were because I was literally bored out of my mind. I don't know if your daughter has been tested to see where she is academically but perhaps that needs to be done and her curriculum fixed to accomodate her and not the average child. I don't know how difficult this would be to do but I know that on tests I was made to take in 5th grade my lowest grade level score was 9th grade level and the majority of my scores were PHS(post h.S.). Even with these tests nothing was ever done to help me and keep my attention. My senior year in H.S. They threatened to fail me for truancy in my first 2 classes of the day. I was making a 99 in one and 100 in the other. I went to my 3rd class because it was Physics and was an interesting class. The problem with schools today might be that they care more about the money they get per child and don't care about the fact that the child keeps skipping because they are bored and need to be worked with on a higher level. This is just a thought on what your daughters problem, might be.

-reply by Phyllis