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My daughter will be a senior in college next year. She has been doing graduate level work for the last couple of years. She has glowing reviews from her professors, she has written a proposal for and received a grant to do her own experiment next year. It is all very impressive.
Here's the problem. Academically things have come easy to her, she's rarely had to put any effort into her studies at all and does very well. But once in a blue moon something presents itself to her that she actually has to work on, and she doesn't like it. She immediately wants to give up, she's not used to having to struggle with something.
She took some form of test today, I do not recall the name, but it will determine which grad schools she can attend. While she does not have the results yet, she is quite sure she did not do well. Consequently she is coming up with a "plan b", manual labor, that type of thing.
I know she's frustrated and I want to be sympathetic and supportive, but on the other hand, I want to let her know that you cannot expect to live your life having everything come easy to you. Sometimes you have to buckle down and work!
She had to travel quite a distance to take the test so she stayed with a friend from HS that lives in that area last night and will stay tonight as well. So far all I've said is that I have faith in you, you are far too intelligent to do manual labor the rest of your life, and we will wait and see what happens. I know my responses have frustrated her further.
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I've been married for 24 years and have four wonderful children.
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