"Junior Parents Night"

"Junior Parents Night." I found it funny--and telling-- that the well-meaning counselors at Newton North titled the invitation this way, rather than as a "night for the parents of juniors." But maybe it was intentional. Because when it comes to the whole college application process, I do feel very much like a junior parent.

This is our first gathering as a group, and as we all assemble in the auditorium--right on time each and every one of us--it's tempting to want to check out the competition. My hope is that the room will be filled with parents slurring their words and clearly indifferent to the whole college application process. But then they wouldn't be here, would they. No, we are all well-dressed, alert, seated on the edges of the hard auditorium chairs, nostrils flaring, like horses at the gate.

It's no wonder, then, that the counselor's first words to us are "Everybody calm down." I have a pen poised over paper to take notes, and actually find myself starting to write this down. I manage a smile and force myself to sit back and least try to trelax. The counselor is an old hand at this. He knows all too well the stress level of the people in this room. He spends the next hour telling us, in the nicest possible manner, to back off, to let our kids own the college process themselves, to let go of all those "name brand" schools and instead celebrate wherever Duncan, FiFi, Sophie, Reginald decides to go. It is only college. We've had our college experience, and the best thing we can do as parents is to let them have theirs.

Easier said then done, but the words hit their mark and I vow to remain rational.