<p>Ah, SlitheyTove, you’re an enabler.</p>
<p>Anybody on this thread have a child who is/was a DI sports recruit? I wonder if the bragging/comparing is more intense in that world? I do know of one dad who is going to one day find himself utterly friendless because of the way he promotes his son’s HS sports career, at the expense of others. You hear about ruthless cheer moms and football dads, but I really don’t know if it’s more common in that world or not.</p>
<p>missypie, I prefer to think of this as being a sanity saver. :)</p>
<p>Okay, in a refreshing breath of honesty, I must confess that I’m leaving work early to hear my D sing the national anthem at the middle school basketball game and I’m so nervious for her! Will she start in the right key? Will she remember the words? Will she hit her high note? Do they sell wine in the school concession stand to parents whose child is singing the national anthem?</p>
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<p>LOL - same exact experience here. Kids naturally reserve their worst behavior for home.</p>
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<p>Exactly what I’ve been doing - giving a list of the super-safeties is a trick I learned here at CC. I said something vague like ‘He’s applying to the state schools and a few others’ and quickly redirect the conversation. IMHO, no good can come from giving out a list of the schools my son is applying to at this point. I’m afraid it will seem like I’m bragging when I list his high reach schools and I will have to go back later and report he didn’t get in (which he probably won’t). Really - it’s nobody’s business and I have stopped asking other parents the same question.</p>
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<p>My S is not a recruit but played a sport, so I “lived” in that world every time there was some kind of social event with the parents. Many parents of the top athletes were talking about how their kids were going to do a post-grad year somewhere to hone their skills before heading to college. Interestingly, it was so <em>not</em> what I would want for my kid that I did not feel an ounce of annoyance…although I guess it really is the same thing as talking about your child’s academic prowess.</p>
<p>Boy - I’ve thought long and hard about this thread. My D had great results in last year’s admission cycle. If someone asked I told them. In an attempt to temper my enthusiasm and mask my pride, I would say she had horrible SAT scores - which she did, CC standards or not. After a while, I felt like I was being disloyal to my D. After all they, were her scores - not mine to talk about. Certainly, no one ever asked me what they were. So more than the false humility or whatever psychological crap floats around a parents’ head, it was this sense of disloyalty that made stop talking about it all. However, thankfully, I have a little anonymous outlet on CC that lets me brag, confess, do whatever. Well, CC and my sisters…
Maybe, that’s why we only hear the “good stuff”. I wouldn’t be too happy if she was telling her friends any of my shortcomings.</p>
<p>Some of this stuff may come down to personality. Unfortunately, I’d have to admit I’m a glass-is-half-empty kind of person. My kid could have just been asked to sing the National Anthem (how did she do, missypie?) and after a short while I’d probably revert my focus back to how she had sassed me at breakfast.</p>
<p>GFG, as Ann Landers used to say, nobody can make you feel bad without your permission.</p>
<p>So don’t give permission.</p>
<p>The wunderkid from my children’s middle school is recovering in an institution from a suicide attempt. The kid who was several grade levels ahead of everyone in math still hasn’t graduated from college (my kid has been out and working for 3 1/2 years… not to brag, but to help you calibrate the elapsed time.) The brilliant kid in HS cut a deal with the DA after he was arrested for turning his parents backyard gardening shed into a crystal meth lab.</p>
<p>You need to rise above what everyone else is thinking or doing. It would be great if raising kids was an algorithm where you followed steps A, B and C and came out with the perfect adult. But it’s not. I watch the kids mine grew up with and there are slacker dudes who are burning up the world and brilliant kids who have yet to launch. So ignore the comments and forge ahead.</p>
<p>Many of these parents of HS kids have absolutely no idea what they’re in for. If you thought adolesence was rough- wait till the rocky “mental health at-risk years” begin at 20-24; wait till your brilliant daughter or niece wants to drop out of college to get married and wait tables to pay the fiance’s loan on his truck; etc.</p>
<p>So chin up and don’t listen to the comments; take the “kick me” sign off and go read a book.</p>
<p>We kept S1’s list pretty quiet around the neighbors. (There are a large number of boys all within two years of each other on our block.) NEVER shared the scores with them. If anyone asked S1 where he was applying, he’d mention the flagship and “a small math/science school in California,” which usually turned the conversation in a different direction. We followed his lead. Folks knew about some of S’s awards from the newspaper, but it’s not like we hung the articles on the front door. Neither of my kids attended the neighborhood HS, so it was relatively easy to keep things low-key. </p>
<p>With S2, the list is very different and there was more overlap with schools he considered compared to schools some of the kids in the neighborhood are now attending. We also can talk about how he’d like to play football at a D-III, which people understand. </p>
<p>I save my kvelling for CC. ;)</p>
<p>National Anthenm went fine. She started a bit too low, so the low notes were low for her but she hit her high notes. She sounded kind of nervous but never changed key once. Afterwards everyone was great to her - all the basketball moms (and even one of the refs) gave her great prasie, so it was cool. (And all three of our teams won, so more cool.) Thanks for asking…my heart was pounding. (But this is the kid who was a gymnast, so no matter what any of my kids does, I tell myself, “this isn’t as bad as the balance beam.”)</p>
<p>ParentofIvyHope - if only life were that simple…</p>