<p>Several years ago, we dealt with this. Our family expectation is that each kid works to his potential whatever level that happens to be. One son was owning the brilliant slacker title. He wouldn’t apply himself, raced through work etc. His test scores though, showed a pattern of very high ability.
After a lot of frustration, we realized that the only way to get him to apply himself consistently was to get him on board with what those high grades could bring him. My husband sat him down and showed him “a tale of two salaries.” He took a sheet of paper and divided it in half. On one side was a modest salary representing slightly above minimum wage. On the other was the average starting salary for the field our son was interested in. Then he listed expenses, rent, car insurance, health insurance, gas, food, taxes, etc. It all got subtracted. Well, you can guess, there wasn’t a lot left over. My husband asked him what else he might like out of life. Vacations? House? Car? Now, add in retirement savings. Then we made it clear that son was not going to live at home after graduation, period.
Son was never perfect after that but, his turn around at school was widely noticed. He barely eeked his way into the top 10% by graduation time. He’s now a high performing college student. It can happen. :)</p>