My son starts high school in a couple of days…
MY ADVICE TO HIM
1. Make sure you remain healthy, out of trouble and not stressed out. Along the way, if you can get great grades, super!
2. Studies are not everything. You have to “live” a life. So, read, do extra homework, join 20 clubs and keep yourself busy doing “other” things. Last I checked, a day has 24 hours.
3. I will not link every update to your grades to your chances of getting into a good college. However, I will surprise you with phrases like “success is built one stone at a time”, “cumulative wins” etc.
4. When parents meet, we will be comparing notes about how the kids are doing in school. However, I promise not to give you a tough time once I realize that you are slacking off compared to their kids.
5. I am ok with you getting into any college of your choice. If you want to thrill me by getting into a college I can announce on social media, I wouldn’t mind.
6. Peer pressure is real. So, get real!
7. I and your mom fully understand the rationale of every action that you take. We have it programmed in our brains. There is no chance that we will overreact unless there is a bug in the program.
8. I am pretty open-minded and hence you will NEVER hear me talking about straight As. An occasional A- is not a bad grade actually.
MY ADVICE TO OTHER PARENTS
1. Don’t ask me about my son’s school progress. If there is something I can make you envious about, you’ll surely hear it from me.
2. I don’t want to hear about yet another strategy to get into a prestigious college. It’s not that I don’t know about it. It’s just that I don’t want to show that I care about it.
3. If my son shows strong changes of getting into a great college, I will highlight it as the most important thing for high school. Otherwise, you’ll hear me talking philosophically with words like “journey”, “emotional quotient”, “happiness”, “the purpose of life” etc.
MY ADVICE TO MYSELF AND MY WIFE
Our son is not an object that is going to be chiseled for 4 years to fit into an admission officer's pile. He is a living, breathing life that has its own plans and its own story. Let the story unfold!
