It’s summer camp season! I’m very happily spending this week and the next three teaching swimming lessons and lifeguarding at a day camp. Most of the kids follow directions and all that… but there are some that don’t for various reasons (none of which are really their fault; it’s their home situation and/or brain chemistry etc., and I suspect camp is probably a super good place for them; I’m glad to contribute to that; etc). What I got to wondering today - can any of you look back on being, say, 1st through 6th graders and being ‘kids w behavior issues’? I was far too good for my own good growing up and can vividly remember the (literally) one time I got in trouble. Just hoping that some of the kids I’m working with will eventually look back and think “wow, I have no idea how my camp counselors/teachers/etc. put up with me.” Tell me some stories and give me some hope here 
I thought I was a good kid, but I recall an eighth grade teacher taking me aside in class and telling me the conversation about me in the teachers lounge was- Smart kid, smart ass. I could easily get by in school and remaining on honor roll without much effort. I was more interested in laughing with friends and not fully paying attention. At least at that age.
From 1-6 I think I was more of a straight arrow. I talked a lot with my neighboring students when I was not supposed to, but that is about all.
Hell yes. My dad was fond of the belt. These days he’d be in jail.
Not very well behaved at all. The only thing that kept me in check was fear of the strap at school and I would get it at home if I got caught stepping out of line. I was probably the kid you didn’t want to have at your camp. I have no idea how some teachers put up with me. I had an wake up event just before highschool which made me a better person.
I would not say terrible but I sure as hell would not say well behaved. On a scale of 1=terrible and 10=gods gift to parents I probably ranked a solid 4 or 5.
Just to be safe I’m not talking being incarcerated or anything like that but just generally being a wild kid who probably had a decent ADHD streak. No authority issues (I don’t think) but loved being the center of attention and was always pushing boundaries.
Looking back today I’d say I turned out pretty well all things considered but it took a while and a lot of other peoples patience. Additionally my mom always believed I was a talented & intelligent individual so having that level of support while being the above certainly helps. Which reminds me I owe her a call since we’re going to move her in with us later this summer.
You asked for examples but honestly mine would be a laundry list. I’ll toss out there that my elementary principle and I were on a first name basis…if that tells you anything
Good luck at camp. Sounds like an excellent way to spend some of your summer.
Oh and take it easy on the little shit heads. Some of us actually turn out ok 
EDIT to add that I misread your post. I was more talking about my behavior as a teenager but yes I was a little disruptive in grades 1-6 (elementary school principle and myself on a first name basis as an example)
I was smart.
I was bored.
I needed attention and didn’t care if it was good or bad.
So I was a problem for teachers.
I was smart.
I was bored.
I needed attention and didn’t care if it was good or bad.
So I was a problem for teachers.
+1 on the bored factor. That was a big thing for me. I also liked to ask “why” a lot which many of my teachers did not appreciate back in the day (for the record they rarely had good answers if I recall).
In retrospect if Montessori was a thing when I was a kid I probably would not have been much of an issue…
As a child, yes. But as a teenager, hell no.
Define well behaved.
I wasn’t a pain in the ass to my parents or teachers. Didn’t talk back, didnt disrupt class. But that let me get away with more. Pull bigger pranks. Stay out late. Skip a class or day here and there. Make a game of cheating in class.
Almost went too far when I got caught doing donuts in a teacher’s yard in exchange for a case of beer in high school. But since I didn’t flip on my co-conspirator it all got dropped in an instant.
I was the perfect child in every way.
Ok that’s not true. I didn’t try in school because I was smart enough to get by with little effort. But I was always well behaved.
I have never smoked anything. Never tried any illegal drugs. Only drink and rarely to excess. Now, never to excess.
Very well behaved. I had a ton of energy, but my mom always said I was always happy and respectful. I can remember the two times I did something stupid: stealing a keychain from Spencers, I wound up crying and bringing it back. And throwing snowballs at cars with some friends, someone called the cops and we ran and hid, never got caught but I stopped hanging out with those guys, it really really bothered me.
I broke out of my shell in college and wrecked havoc but as a kid I was a damned saint.
Hell yes. My dad was fond of the belt. These days he’d be in jail.
Bet you turned out ok. Not a drug addict or murder?
Discipline works!
I was a good kid. My older sister not so much. Teachers would see my name and say “oh great, another one”.
One day my sister realized she needed a massive change and went to all military recruiters and said first one to accept me gets me. Two weeks later she was in Parris Island. She just retired from the Army (yeah, a jarhead who went into the Army) as a Chief Warrant Officer 4. At her retirement I was amazed how she commanded a room full of senior enlisted, majors and colonels.
My best friend growing up was a spaz. I remember a few years out of college he told me he was a good restaurant manager because his employees reminded of himself a few years previously. He parlayed that experience into managing a grocery store. They always gave him the most screwed up stores because he could turn them around.
Hell yes. My dad was fond of the belt. These days he’d be in jail.
Are you one of my brothers I don’t know about?
I was very well behaved as a child, probably to a fault.
I remember my freshman year of high school, my swim team had a weekly card party. We’d get together at some team member’s house and play poker, blackjack, euchre, acey deucey, etc. for a couple hours on Thursday nights. The usual ante was a quarter, it was a big pot if it broke six or seven dollars. I was nervous to even tell my parents about it the first time I got invited, and when I did, my mother - who was pretty strict and definitely knew how to pinch a penny - laughed and said “go sin a little, would you” and fronted me $10.
On the whole I was a very good pre-teen kid. Mostly because I was afraid of adults in general so I did what I was told. Not incurring anyone’s wrath was desirable.
However I did long to be that rebellious kid at times, they did what they wanted…
Oh hell no. I was a little shit.
Got into trouble/ fights constantly and was moved to several elementary schools as a result.
Despised authority and rebelled at almost every opportunity.
Stole my dad’s truck when I was 10.
Had the police chase me home on my dirt bike more than once.
Got into drugs and alcohol before I was a teen.
My mom used wooden spoon across my ass for discipline. She broke a lot of spoons!
It took me until my early 20s to get my shit together. But it happened eventually. Earned my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and now happily married (15 years) and have three wonderful (and somewhat well behaved) boys.
Dunning kruger in full effect here…
I think I was reasonably well behaved, obviously was smart and bored…
I was only ever a bit of a smart arse
I find watching my kids interesting, 5 and 3. The first word out of the eldest mouth, does not matter what you ask is no
At school she’s an angel, but at home, strong willed is how I’d describe it
Anyway she’s swimming twice a day at the moment, one lesson, one practice /playing because she wants to go and it improves her disposition
I always thought of myself as a good kid, but in reality i was a little shit. Certainly my mum says i was “a problem” I was pretty clever, easily bored, very adventurous, always completely full of sugar and I probably cross the line into Aspergers.
I smoked my first spliff at 13, drank a ton of cider in early teens, shoplifted a bit, mainly just alcohol and drugs and not doing what i was told and kicking against all the walls. I eventually grew up ok, largely through the random chance of having a good group of fun but less-asshole friends in college and getting into surfing which gave me an outlet. There’s nothing like getting smacked on the head by a double-overhead wave to knock the bullshit out of you for a little while.
I’ve now got 3 kids and I can see the parallels as they grow up. One of them is a horrible shit, one of them would be if she wasn’t so busy with sports, and the youngest one… i’ll have to wait and see…
Definitely, until I was a senior in high school, but even then I wasn’t too bad.