<p>^^^^ LOL binx!! I’ll be happy to conference you in on one of our phonecalls. She is a dear friend-- maybe you can tell her to STOP!! (And btw, no you haven’t met her yet, but I can arrange that if you’d like 
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<p>*** EDIT:
DId I mention that the “superstar” kid is only a junior?!?!?! I have <strong>another year</strong> of this. Waiting to see what the PSAT scores are. I am hooping the best for him, really I am, but I fear it could become insufferable…</p>
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<p>OMG…we have the same inlaws! I swear. Oh I wish we could make they have dinner together…I wonder who would outdo the other.</p>
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<p>Oh come on! I think if your child just got his/her PSAT scores and they’re, I dunno, 150s or 180s and you’re bursting at the seams to tell someone, this should also be the place. Each kid is different and all parents have a right to be proud. </p>
<p>But you are quite right, knowing this board, at times, the response might be too painful.</p>
<p>starbright-
When I was in the hospital, in active labor with s #2, we called my BIL/SIL. She proceeded to tell me how terrible her labor was, and how much worse it was, like this was some sort of contest or something!! Ugh. Lets put them in the same room. I wanna be a fly on the wall.</p>
<p>jym, I think that’s it exactly. We are all proud of our kids when they accomplish something, whether it’s academic or athletic. And as social animals, we want to share - sometimes shout - about them. That’s not only understandable, it’s wonderful. We all love to see a glowing parent honestly thrilled about something their much loved child did.</p>
<p>I think the difference between celebration and bragging is when it becomes less about the kids, and more about the parents.</p>
<p>One of the most valuable things I’ve gotten from CC over the years is a sense of how many really accomplished kids are out there. It helped my family to gain some perspective on the applicant pools at selective schools. If a kid has always been an academic star in his own high school, it’s easy to develop some very high expectations for college. We see it fairly often on this board in April, when parents or kids are stunned not to be accepted at schools where they seemed more than qualified. The common data set numbers don’t tell the whole story, but we’ll often read that a kid was well into the middle 50th percentile (or even higher) for SAT/ACT, with a straight A average and a zillion APs, and either waitlisted or flat-out rejected. And, of course, this is usually because there were a thousand other equally qualified applicants, each of whom brought something different to the table, and the school picked those qualified applicants who offered the admissions committee what it needed to build a class.</p>
<p>That’s why I think that CC “bragging” serves a purpose that real-life bragging doesn’t. You start to really understand what “selective” means when you read about some of the amazing kids our CC parents have (and then see how many of even those kids are rejected by Yale every spring! I always wonder - did anyone get in there? )</p>
<p>Celebrating vs. bragging…isn’t it celebrating when you tell the news to someone with whom you have shared the journey? For example, if you have a D is gymnastics and she’s been working a year to get her giant and you’ve told your friend of the difficulties over the year…when D gets that giant and scores a 9.1 at the meet, your friend will actually want to know and share your joy. However, the random mom at school will probably hear “D got a 9.1 on bars!” as bragging.</p>
<p>Good point frazzled. I have learned a lot from reading about the accomplishments of the kids on CC and how it all plays out in the college admissions process. </p>
<p>And yes, celebrating is different from bragging, as long as people can celebrate other people’s successes, and not just their own.</p>
<p>Lots of good insight by posters here. There is a fine line between celebrating and bragging, and the shared vs self-focused distinction is a good one. I rather enjoy the posters who preface some of their posts with “shameless mommy bragging” because we do “get it” and feel that doing the same here is ok. I also agree that the accomplishments of many of the posters and poster’s kids here is truly amazing and impressive. This causes us to set our bars higher such that when we hear someone elsewhere bragging about their kid’s performance when they don’ have what I call the “cc perspective” , we may be less impressed or tolerant of the pride they express in their kids. Regardless of a kids level of accomplishment, we all should be proud of our kids. Its just when it becomes incessant and obnoxious that its over the top. Someone elsewhere coined the phrase “ick meter”. When our ick meter, or barf meter rises above a certain threshold, thats when pride transtions to braggadocio, IMO.</p>
<p>In contrast, I recall vividly the son of a friend of ours who was on our s’s baseball team. This was a very sweet kid who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. But he tried. And tried. And had a great attitude. And when he <em>finally</em> got a hit and made it to first base, he was ebullient- jumping for joy. His pure glee was endearing, and only equalled by that of all the parents in the stand who all stood up and cheered for him. And now I’ll do a little bragging on behalf of his parents. He is currently a sophomore at MIT. We are all proud, and all share in his accomplishments.</p>
<p>I have another friend who is the opposite-- she is extraordinarily understated when it comes to her older s’s accomplishments. He is an unbelievable kid- Val. in hi very challenging HS, won an award for taking the most APs in the STATE (and got all 5’s) starting in middle school (he was transported to the HS for some of his classes, and they ran out of things for him to take), Eagle scout, all around great kid. He’s currently a senior at Yale (yes, some DO get in). I don’t recall ever hearing her brag about his accomplishments-- to the contrary you’d have to ask her and she seemed almost embarassed to tell the exceptional quality and number of his accomplishments. I think her picture should be in the dictionary next to the definition of “humble”.</p>
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<p>Good for them!</p>
<p>My D’s volleyball team won the consolation bracket of a tournament. I’m sure the other parents thought we were celebrating way too much, but those were the only games the girls won the entire season. Similarly, at the end of the season, we played the other worst team in the league and lost. I did not begrudge the other team their squeals of joy because they had just won their first set of the season. (I did find it obnoxious when we played the best team in the district and they blew us out of the water and then squealed and celebrated like crazy.)</p>
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<p>And what makes you think it will stop when the superstar gets to college?</p>
<p>My sib certainly hasn’t held back any…I’m looking forward to law school…the job at Cravath…the judgeship…maybe SCOTUS!! It will never end. :D</p>
<p>^^^ Oh, thats so depressing…</p>
<p>And this is her middle child. One more to go. Heard about middle school math team and his musical giftedness the other day…</p>
<p>If one more parent around town brags about “HONORS!!! FIVE AP’S!!” …one woman regaled me with her kid’s entire college search process, and never once asked how we were doing…as if she’s the only person in town doing it…I have a kid the same age! Talk about tunnel vision.</p>
<p>But, dke, your kid is so normal, so ordinary, and mine is so special ;)</p>
<p>There’s a couple we see at parties…we’re friendly with them…but not friends with them. Really, the only time we see them is at parties and maybe bumping into them at stores. Wow…do they brag. Non-stop. Add a few drinks and they just get worse! They corner you…one or both…and go on and on…never asking about how our kid is doing (similar ages too!). It’s nauseating. My H and I have a pact now…since we often separate at parties…we are on the lookout and will perform a “save” action if needed (can you get me a drink? Suzy is over there and wants to say hello).
I’m sure they have no clue that they are putting folks off.</p>
<p>Come on people!</p>
<p>Ok, we have established that every kid here on CC is beyond special, amazing, talented, selective, accomplished, amazing, amazing, amazing. Oh and we as parents are so amazing because we have amazing kids to talk about here on CC. Blah…Blah…Blah.</p>
<p>There isn’t a parent here who posts their “amazing” kids stats who doesn’t feel some satisfaction in doing so. Come on, not even a little bit of a smile as you post? Of course, its all to benefit those students who wonder where they fit in. </p>
<p>Bragging is Bragging no matter the forum.</p>
<p>hayden…</p>
<p>We had this discussion years ago on this forum and we all agreed that this is a “safe” place to brag (vs IRL). I know the poster to whom you refer in the story about the principal, and she is a loving, caring person who gave much of herself to this forum. She hasn’t posted in years, so I’m not sure why she gets picked on.</p>
<p>I still post occasionally, even though my son just graduated from college. I would probably be a more current target. I know that I bragged too much (you’d find lots of examples in my thousands of posts - 3000 before the “new forum” came in), but better to brag here than to friends. We all put a little of ourselves on this forum when we post, and make ourselves a little vulnerable to criticism. We’re wrapped up in our kids (or we wouldn’t be here in the first place). But it still hurts when we do get jumped on.</p>
<p>I’m not “picking on” anyone. I related a story I remembered from years ago, posted by someone who, as you say, hasn’t posted in years. I didn’t identify the poster, schools involved, location or anything else that could remotely identify her. In fact, I don’t even remember her name. The fact that you immediately identified her by that one line from the principal is fairly surprising. </p>
<p>Someone I know told me another story I thought was pretty amusing. She was on a plane a number of years ago, and starting chatting with the man sitting next to her. She started talking about her kids, one of whom played baseball in high school. He encouraged her to go on and on, so she said she spent the whole trip bragging about her son’s accomplishments in high school ball, etc etc… After the plane landed, he handed her a piece of paper which turned out to be, I don’t remember exactly, something like a pass to their city’s baseball game, and he scribbled his name on the back - “Hank Aaron”. She said she was mortified. On the other hand, I thought he was probably totally charmed by how proud she was of her son’s accomplishments in a game he obviously loved.</p>
<p>I’m not much of one for “serial bragging,” but I think I’d rather deal with a bragger than the kind of cattiness I have observed from some of you on this thread, especially hayden. It’s passable to rag on your neighbor if you have to, but not too prudent to publicly rag on someone who was a part of this board but gone now, especially when there are so many more current examples of “serial bragging” here. As you point out, hayden, none of us is as anonymous as we want to think! 
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<p>Call me crazy, but I love to hear about productive, successful kids, even if their parents might be a little too proud of them.:)</p>
<p>I guess that some of my kids’ friends have spent so much time at my home that their achievements make me just as proud as my own kids’. And, like missypie, I consider CC a perfectly acceptable place to brag!</p>
<p>The story about Hank Aaron reminds me of another bragging story. There was a big field trip at my son’s high school for which they needed chaperons. I volunteered. On each bus were three adults: two parents and a teacher. On my bus, the teacher was the varsity soccer coach. On the way, the other parent went into incessant bragging about his son’s sports achievements in baseball and football. The coach looked very unimpressed and seemed bored with the conversation. The other parent turned to me and asked, “What does your son do?” I said, “Well, he really loves skiing and mountain biking, and he also likes hiking and scuba diving and caving.” The other parent looked at me like I was nuts. “No,” he said loudly, “I meant what does you son DO? As in Sports! Like baseball and football!” But something I had said triggered the coach’s curiosity, and he asked my what my son’s name was. When I told him, the coach got VERY excited and launched into his own brag session - all about my son! I hate to admit it, but I was so happy to see the other parent deflated.</p>
<p>Back to the principal story, the reason I remember it is because something similar happened to me as a child (I think I even sent a PM to that poster and related my story). There was an award at an honors assembly for the 9th grader who had the highest grade point average for the year. Of course, all of us had compared notes and I was the only one who had all A’s. My closest competitor had received a B in PE. When the principal announced, “And now the award for the best grades in ninth grade…” I stood up to go up and get the award. Then the principal announced my friend’s name! I was so embarrassed. When I asked the principal about it later, he said, “Yes, you had the higher grades, but he is smarter than you.” That memory is so vivid in my brain that even 45 years later, it still “smarts.”</p>