I think this is perennial sow thistle, I think, I could just as easily be wrong.  I'm ok with being wrong now.  There was a time when I couldn't handle being wrong, I couldn't handle the opinions of others, and I couldn't handle criticism.  I can now, mostly.  Being wrong is ok.  Not knowing is ok.  I don't have to right all the time.  I can shut my mouth and leave facts out of the conversation, sometimes.

The thing is, Jack always has to be right and it brings out my need to be right.  We've told him he doesn't know everything.  Told him he doesn't have to be right, that it's ok.  Nobody knows everything.  None of that helps and none of it diminishes his need to be right.

Yesterday I saw a thing on Instagram about the Dunning-Kruger effect. Basically the Dunning-Kruger effect means that people with a low skill set in one area, are unable to accurately evaluate their competence in that area, because they don't know what they don't know.  Their incompetence prevents them from understanding that they are incompetent.  I worked with a nurse like this for fourteen long years.

On the other side, highly skilled people will question their competence because they have a better understanding of what they don't know.  

Which brought me back to children.  I wondered if children experience this, so I googled it and sure enough, children also experience this, although in children it's not usually called the Dunning-Kruger effect.  Children lack experience and knowledge and have no idea of how little they know.  What children do know, is that they keep learning and know a lot more than they did previously, so it's easy to understand why children would think that they know everything.  It's normal in other words.  

I always worry about Jack.  He's been through so much trauma in his short life, starting with his birth when he had to be resucitated, and I wonder how much of that has impacted him.  He lives with his old grandparents who are tired, but also have a lifetime of experience in both knowledge, skills, and child rearing.  Does that affect him?  Doubtful.

When we had an appointment with the psychiatrist who runs the ADHD clinic course on resilience and skill building, the doc was surprised at how well Jack was doing, in spite of his early trauma.  Good news.  It also helps just watching Jack's peers.  Yes, Jack has some issues, but so do a lot of his peers.  It's not good or bad, it just is.  Life is hard and we still have to get through it, hopefully with lots of hugs and laughter.

And now for my new skill this week, canning peaches.  I learned it was time consuming, but they do look pretty.  Cutting up the peaches, dousing them with lemon juice, and freezing them was much easier.  Now I know.