Maturity - in and out

Mr.Wendal
Thu, 21 Jul 2016 17:23:28 +0000

I give @SculptorDad a ton of credit for baring his soul on a lot of this stuff. A lot of parents on this site, almost by definition of showing up and engaging, are high achievers and want even higher achievement for their offspring. Many of us also probably do a good job of trying to fake “being more chill” about this stuff than @SculptorDad.

Maybe it’s a cultural thing, maybe it’s because our society discourages public admission of being less than 100% enthused with each outcome, maybe because we want to pretend, “Oh Jimmy just got into Andover, it was all him.” In our society, apparently it’s ok to be freakishly brilliant and talented, but perish the thought that anyone actually sees the sausage getting made. But I think by virtue of even being on this site, we know that at best, that’s not quite reality. There’s a lot ugliness and effort in making the sausage.

I think @SculptorDad has the cojones to actually come out and say it. I know that’s helped me.

I’m not suggesting any of anyone’s advice towards him is wrong–especially with regard to making sure his daughter’s long-term prognosis as a human is as good as possible–but this is a Dad who clearly gives an enormous amount of love and support to his kid and is going to miss the heck of not having her around and I think some of his post-game fretting is related to needing a new project!

Personally, I’m looking at building a canoe with my 8-year old.