Once upon a time there lived a vain parent whose only worry in life was to convince her neighbors how clever her son was. Every hour she would regale anyone who would listen regarding her son’s accomplishments in the classroom and on the athletic field. Word of this parent’s vanity spread throughout the community and…Read the full article

So much of parenting has to do with compliance that it can be hard to keep our eyes on the prize: the relationship between you and your child. “Brush your teeth; clean your room; do your homework” is just the beginning. There are more essential imperatives. “Learn to swim; don’t run out in the street;…Read the full article

I don’t mean to creep you out but someone is stalking you. This particular someone is watching your every move, listening to every word you say, studying your facial expressions, thinking about how you respond to every situation. There is no place you can hide, nothing you can do to disguise your intentions. Your thoughts,…Read the full article

Forty-something years ago I was attracted to a college classmate. After our literature seminar, we chatted about the novels we wanted to write as adults. “We liked the same music, we liked the same bands, we liked the same clothes.” It seemed like we had a lot in common. But when I finally got up…Read the full article

There’s always hope. Nah. Not really. Not always. At a recent meeting of pre-meds at a university whose name you would recognize, the panel of actual medical students and genuine doctors gave advice to the aspiring (“slathering” has such unfortunate connotations) physicians. Phrases were bandied about like Frisbees at a windy rock concert: “minimum of…Read the full article

Not that it matters to most students, or most universities for that matter, but several hundred test-takers score a 1600 on the SAT each year. Some of these kiddos with “perfect” scores are admitted to highly competitive colleges (HSCs), some not. As one HSC admissions counselor pointed out, “we could fill our first year class…Read the full article

Colleges are businesses. Colleges are businesses with some nice folks trying to good things, but colleges are businesses nonetheless. Colleges aren’t creepy dishonest businesses like Enron, but somebody at the college is aware that income should exceed expenses. Just as a chicken is in egg’s way of making another egg, how this year’s entering first-year…Read the full article

At a recent conference in New Orleans I had the mixed pleasure of reconnecting with an old college friend who had apparently never heard of “never mix, never worry.” I learned from colleagues that Stacie had started with Kahlua and coffee at lunch and had slurped an entire bottle of Bordeaux at dinner. When she…Read the full article

1) James won his age group in a small local race recently. He ran 10 kilometers in 50 minutes. How great is that? Of course, many of the more talented runners were contesting other distances–half and full marathons–so the competition was modest. Just the same, James won in the 60-64 year old division, got a…Read the full article