How to deal with an adventurous spirit in a world of normativity and sitting around 8+ hours in schools.
A different outlook on procrastination and provocation from school children (and grown up children as well).

Ever wondered why some children and teenagers are creating pressure and go to the point of just barely making it, almost ‘failing’ when it comes to their school responsibilities?
There are a lot of ideas why… and many ideas of how to deal with it.
But then it happens again and parents and teachers ask their children: Why? Why again???

What if it’s just the best thing to come up with if you have an adventurous spirit? One that wants to explore and go beyond boundaries. One that wants to be challenged and master difficulties.

If the only challenge and difficulty you face is a classroom with normative tasks that you kind of are already bored of… what now?

Create your own difficulties and challenges within that frame. 

Which e.g. could be:

Postpone the rehearsal to the max.

Wait until you have sweat on your face and tears in your eyes. 
Your heart is pounding and you can no longer sleep.

Now you’re in the game!

Ha!

Now you have to work really hard.

Write that essay at 3 o’clock in the morning just before you have to bring it in.

Barely or don’t rehearse at all, and see if you can make it through the exam.

Let your grades drop close to the red line and then gather your last strengths to see if you can still make it over the finish line in time.

Or challenge the one at the ‘front desk’ so much they set the bar higher for you just because they take it personally. 

Isn’t that highly creative and, if you look at it with a little bit of distance, also fun?

What if you as a parent, or teacher of a child/teen like this would consider to look at what’s going on with fresh eyes, with curiosity and the expectation that this child is having no problem but is quite creative?

What if you knew: Some children / teenagers (if not all) are adventurous.*
It isn’t really a challenge for them to just have more to read, write, and learn intellectually. In any case, it's very one-sided.
What if you knew that every human being growing up needs to feel their body, and they are also highly creative.
Instead of being challenged outdoors, they come up with other ideas to feel their heart beat faster, test their limits, test their ability to expand and go beyond their outgrown self.

Maybe it’s time to use everyone's creativity to come up with better ideas on how to meet the natural need and drive to be challenged, instead of just enforcing school rules, imparting even more mere book knowledge, while cutting down any physically demanding experience, or conducting another multiple choice test while having children sitting at a desk for hours and hours.

What if parents and teachers knew every child has capacity beyond what they thought? If they knew their children would create challenges themselves to satisfy a natural desire that helps them grow. 
And all that is required of adults is not to freak out (even when their child starts to scream and kick…) but to stay present and support them to find their own way. To master their self chosen battle.

*According to Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor we all have this adventurous part within us - one of the four characters inside, located within our brain. Maybe your own adventurous aspect is creating this sort of thrill in your life too?
If it gets in your way - let’s have a chat and see if there is a way for you to integrate it differently - so it’s fun and not chaos.

© Marlene Fuchs (marlenefuchs.ch)