Third lesson lost
You have not followed the last three lessons. Everybody else seems to be keeping up. The topic test is in two weeks.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
A friend tells you something
A friend says they have been feeling awful for weeks and asks you not to tell anyone.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Help asked for early is small. The same problem three months later needs somebody to rearrange their week.
Say what you need
"I do not understand question 4" gets an answer. "I am rubbish at this" gets sympathy, which is not what you came for.
Different people for different things
Some people are good for schoolwork, some for feelings, some for practical problems. Asking the wrong person is not proof that nobody can help.
The bit that stops people
It is almost never not knowing who to ask. It is the belief that needing help means you are behind — and everybody, including the people who look fine, needs it.
Step 3: Try It
These ones do have right answers.
Who Do You Ask?
Match each problem to who is best placed to help.
Different problems need different people.
Tap a card on the left to start.
Step 4: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 1
When is the best time to ask for help with schoolwork?
Step 5: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Name your three
- Write down three people you could go to: one for schoolwork, one for feelings, one for practical problems.
- Check each one is somebody you could actually approach.
- Keep the list.
Why: Deciding who to ask is much harder in the moment you need them. Deciding in advance costs nothing.
Step 6: What You Learned
- Ask early. The problem grows faster than the awkwardness.
- Say exactly what you do not understand.
- Match the person to the kind of problem.
For the grown-up
How an adult responds the first time is decisive. Visible irritation, or a lecture attached to the answer, reliably converts a child who asks into one who does not.
Asking for help is highly specific to context: a young person who happily asks about math may find asking about friendships impossible. Worth checking rather than assuming.
Persistent low mood over weeks, changes in sleeping or eating, or withdrawal from things previously enjoyed are worth raising with a GP. That is not an overreaction and this lesson deliberately says so.