Mission Possible

College responses are beginning to trickle in. And surprise surprise, kids are getting accepted: My college roommate's daughter got into all seven schools to which she applied--Harvard among them--and is currently reveling in the happy fact of having to choose between this illustrious institution and Wheaton (also illustrious in its own way), which came through with a $50,000 merit award. And this decision is difficult why?

A classmate of A*'s at Newton North just got in to MIT! This was thrilling news, as it at least shows that kids from North can actually get in. He was very forthcoming with A*, volunteering his test scores and class load. His one piece of advice to A* was to volunteer. Hmmm. This is definitely a weak point in A*'s resume. It's not that he isn't interested in volunteering, and has certainly enjoyed the few stints he's done in the past, it's that neither he nor I have taken the initiative to set something up. Arguably, it shouldn't be about my initiative, but his. Now he's making tentative stabs at finding volunteer opportunities at the Museum of Science. I'm trying hard not to micromanage this process. Sometimes I'm even succeeding.

I attended a lecture at the high school earlier this week given by a family therapist. The lecture was supposed to be about how to talk to your teen, but it quickly morphed into a talk about how to cut your high school junior some slack. What she had to say had merit, but it was hard to hear. More on this later, but basically her point was to ease up already. Let your kids be who they are. Don't push and prod and nag and try to force fit them into a mold of your making. There was silence in the crowd as she spoke as we each swallowed hard thinking of all the instances in which we'd done just that.