Sunday, February 21, 2010

Wowed

After my talk with my daughter, I wrote a note to her saying, essentially, that while high school was important, it wasn't a be-all and end-all so much as an options-generator, and she got to choose the options. And that while doing well made for lots of later options, not doing well didn't mean the end of the world. And that she had buckets of time to make choices, and to expect that those choices would change over time. And other, similar stuff.

She loved it. I was quite surprised.

5 comments:

Wendster said...

Wow! That sounds like a BEAUTIFUL conversation.

Now I'm feeling happy for YOU.

Really happy.

I love parent child moments like that one.

:)

Cerulean Bill said...

They do seem to happen more as she gets older. By the time she's eighty-five, should be quite interesting.

Unknown said...

This made me smile.
That is great way to frame high school and I am sure it takes some of the pressure off her too.

Cerulean Bill said...

Both of those were my goal, Shannon. I know that I add to her pressure. In my mind, I think that's the right thing to do. But in my heart, I think not necessarily. Pressure may make diamonds, but it also makes nutcases. I want my daughter to be successful, but I also want her to be happy. So what I wrote was an attempt to help her see the desirability of both of those admittedly contradictory goals.

As I said to her, I graduated from high school near the bottom of my class... and I'm happy with how things turned out.

Cerulean Bill said...

I agree with the premise, but I don't see the logic.