When Your Kid is a Know-It-All Actually

My older son is notorious for fueling my trigger reaction to fine tune my radar hearing into a seemingly random conversation he happened to be engaged in at the time. He, to this very moment, has absolutely no idea that or how he instantly flags my parental controls. Honestly, I had to really go deep to investigate the source of my parenting call-to-arms. Finding the source, the mash-up of this one word and the touch of snarkiness to voice indicate the potential for more closely monitoring the situation- actually. Actually, I'm holding on to faith in the fact that this know-it-all phase will diminish with time. I'm sure it will. Actually- I'm quite uncertain, no pun intended. What do you do when your kid is a know-it-all- actually?

Thank you to Aaron McGinley for the courtesy of providing and Advanced Reader Copy for editorial content purposes. This content may contain affiliate links. 

When Your Kid is a Know-It-All Actually

With an abundance of information available to our kids, it's quite understandable for them to feel comfortable sharing their newly acquired wealth of knowledge. I'm all in for the confidence boost kids gain from our positive encouragement and supportive nurturing. However, challenges arise when your child's unbridled brilliance borders upon smarty-pants sass. Subtle lines may be crossed, negatively affecting the way other kids and adults interpret these exchanges. 

Actually, there are plenty of educational resources available to support families through this developmental stage. Finding informative materials to help children to gain a better understanding of age-appropriate social skills from a trusted, reputable source is always beneficial to parents, teachers, and of course, our kids. We've recently read the highly anticipated new children's book, Aiden McGee Get A Case of the Actuallys, from author, educator, therapist and dad, Aaron McGinley. 



Do you know a child that is highly intelligent? So intelligent that it can get in the way socially?

Aiden has a case of "The Actuallys," and just can't help but correct others on the most trivial of facts. Is it a turtle or a tortoise? Is a tomato a fruit?  With every misspoken word, Aiden just  has to interject, and often, it embarrasses the people around him. One day, someone gives him a piece of advice that could change everything... will he listen to the advice or keep up old habits?

Smiling with those impossible-to-resist dimpled cheeks I adore, my second grader smirked mercilessly as we discussed his particular case of the "actuallys" to further our conversation. In our world, I've learned to train my brain to avoid announcing that it's 7 o'clock at 6:58, as it actually is not accurate. Appealing to me on a personal level as mom to a sarcastic teen and smarty-pants second grader, both quite fond of “Actuallys”, we all laughed and more importantly learned a valuable lesson from reading Aiden McGee Gets a Case of the Actuallys together. As a takeaway, we all will put the practical tips Aiden learned to good use- actually!

Author Aaron McGinley is a licensed therapist and father of three, one of whom is highly gifted. For the last twenty years, he's dedicated his professional talents to working with the students that don't quite seen to "fit into a box". Professionally speaking, some are gifted students, some students have Autism, while other students have been diagnosed with ADHD, yet all are close to his heart.  Serving in this capacity, McGinley has served in a variety of settings from Family Crisis Therapist to Dating Coach for young adults to Social Skills Mentor. Sharing his expertise, AAron McGinley has had the distinct privilege of being selected as a TEDX Talk speaker, Staff Trainer, and Professional Speaker at a wide variety of academic conferences and workshops.

Actually, Aiden McGee Gets a Case of the Actuallys is available HERE!

About The Author

Aaron McGinley is the parent of three wonderful children, and have been working with children for 20 years, often supporting social and emotional development in "book smart" kids who sometimes need some social guidance. In that time, he's been a therapist, a social skill mentor, a teacher, and more recently, a parent.

As the owner of this blog, niecyisms, I am compensated to provide my opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. This blog may contain affiliate links. Even though, as the writer/owner of this blog receiving compensation for posts or advertisements, I will always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs or experiences on those topics or products. This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. I believe in the honesty of relationship, opinion and identity. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.