Labels: Boston, By Dawn Yun, College, Connecticut, English cucumber, Grand Tetons, homework, New York, school is over, school vacation, summer camps, summer school, World History, Yellowstone

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My son Jack may be a savant. Don’t immediately think “Rain Man”; think more Madden. Jack is 4 1/2 and has an extreme fascination with football.

I can’t figure out the connection. Both of his parents are well versed in the sport and are fans to a certain level (somewhere less than face painting) but we certainly haven’t had any time or energy to devote to building our own knowledge of the sport, let alone creating a prodigy.

He can recite scores -- both as they happen, as well as some that happened months ago. He knows the names and purposes of all positions both offense and defense. He has favorite players, jerseys of favorite players, names of favorite players, great plays of favorite players, all colors of teams, all names of teams, all mascots.

Perhaps my personal favorite is his desire to go to Tom Brady’s house and get tips on how to play football. Who am I to squash this dream? I would like to go to Tom Brady’s house and get tips on… stuff, too. My job is to see his dreams happen, even if they seem impossible.

Jack really does have a unique talent. He knows the difference between college and pro teams and games on television. He can count to any score and knows the value of every point scored. He has three team’s regalia complete with jersey, pants and helmet, and wears the helmet when catching a touchdown pass at the end of the living room.

It would be one thing if he couldn’t catch or throw a ball, but he seems talented in doing that as well.

My younger son has realized that opposition is hopeless. His “No hootball game” has turned to “watch ponies” or “watch Patwiots.” He gets bored in the first minute or two, but Jack will watch for hours if we let him. He reenacts plays in the living room complete with straight arm, jukes and tackles. I know that some people see the violence, but I see the passion, with proper protective gear.

He asked me six months ago when he could play football. I didn’t know, so I went to the Internet to look up how old he would have to be to play. I told him he could play when he turned 7. So, every day he asks me how long until he turns 7? Every day I answer. Yesterday he asked if I would watch him play when he turns 7. I said that I would be there every game. He said, “No, on T.V.?” In his world, he was already playing in the N.F.L.

Childhood is a blessing in dreaming big. Parenting is hoping that they can achieve every one of those dreams.

By Jennifer O’Shaughnessy

Labels: College, fans, football, Jennifer O'Shaughnessy, Madden, N.F.L., pro sports teams, Rain Man, sports, Tom Brady

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Today I got the call I have been waiting for; waiting with both excitement and dread. It was the school admissions director. As she introduced herself, I was once again a teenager, speaking to the admissions director at Smith College as she congratulated me on my acceptance.

However, this was preschool, not college, and my son had not gotten in. Despite the fact that I had dutifully listed him on the waiting list a few months after his birth, along with all of the other Marin mothers, it appeared that some moms had gotten on the list while still pregnant.

As ridiculous as it seems, I could not help but feel that I had failed somehow.

When I first told my own mother that I was looking at preschools, she sensibly asked, “Why don’t you just send him to the one near your house, like I did with you?”

Oh, if only it were that easy. It is hard now to think about how much time and energy I spent picking out just the right place for my son, as though I really were choosing a four-year “home away from home” instead of a place he would spend just a few days per week.

Would he be happy and safe? Would he enjoy the reading nook and the art corner? I finally discovered the perfect place, just two blocks from my house. My neighborhood preschool.

The rejection felt like a wound.

I chose this small city to raise my family because it reminded me of the friendly little town in upstate New York where I grew up. However, sometimes it seems to be just a picturesque facade of that little town and its simple way of life.

Here, I must rush to the phone with positive pregnancy test in hand and pay a $50 application fee (same as college) and beg preschools to let my sweet-tempered little boy play in their mock kitchens and join their circle time.

Leaving your child for the first time is hard enough without suffering such indignities.

However, I am certain that my son will have many advantages and opportunities here as well... if he can ever get off the waiting lists.

By Rebecca Jackson

Labels: acceptance, By Rebecca Jackson, College, preschool

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We just deposited our daughter at college, so I have been moaning about the empty nest. Imagine my surprise to discover underfoot a baby bird not yet launched -- my younger daughter.

Such is the lot of the second child. Even in utero Jenny suffered benign neglect as I consumed the occasional glass of wine.

‘Whatever,’ I’d think.

After an exhausting labor, I could have cared less when the nurses whisked her away to the nursery. Whenever my firstborn pitched a fit, I oozed empathy. With Jenny, I just stepped around her sob-wracked, prostrate body.

“Whatever,” I’d say.

At my older daughter’s college orientation, parents told me how close they had grown to their younger children still at home.

I took note.

So this weekend Jenny and I spent the whole day together. I cheered her on at her track meet, then we gabbed over lunch. We chased down ducks with a pedal boat, then prowled vintage clothing haunts.

I know it won’t be long before she’s rolling her eyes and saying “Whatever” herself. But until then -- I’m going to savor every moment.

By Lorrie Goldin

Labels: College, Empyt Nest Syndrome, Lorrie Goldin

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I am going to New York City to look at NYU with my stepdaughter. Of course I am thrilled that she got into such a prestigious school (I enjoy taking credit for all of her worthy accomplishments).

I am also thrilled that I am able to go with her and check out the city where I lived a million years ago. Okay, it has actually been 20 years since I spent the summer in a dorm at NYU while working in advertising between my junior and senior years of college. It may as well be a million years ago.

Most of all, I am thrilled about traveling across the country by myself to meet her in New York. This will be my first solo flight in nine years. It is an entire day of travel and I am looking forward to every minute.

I understand her wanting to go “away” to college. I would have given anything to have the chance to go across country to college. She also got into Berkeley, which is everybody else’s first choice. That would be her dad, her mom, her stepfather, and me. We make up a team. I joke that any two of us could not manage the job it takes all four of us to raise her.

But what we all love about Berkeley is the very thing that is holding her back: it is a 20-minute drive from both her respective households in Marin.

Is it our fault that the best school in the country is so close? We have offered to never visit, only allow her to come home for major holidays and even move ourselves. She remains undecided.
And so I plan my trip. The line between Alexandra and me keeps blurring in my mind. I can’t help but put myself in her position, wishing it were my own plans I was making.

I am sure I will miss her but I am thrilled for her. I am also jealous that
my college experiences are way in the past and hers are all still ahead of her.

By Cathy Burke

Labels: Berkeley, College, NYU, stepparent

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