College?
Yes, yes I know my two boys are about 16 years away from me even potentially seeing them go off to college but I was thinking about it and realized that I was already making assumptions about my kids. When I was growing up my family always told me that I could be anything I wanted to be in this world and that I should always try to be the best I possibly could be. When I was a little older I realized that they too had high expectations of me but tried to temper that with a philosophy that it was more imporatant that I be happy. What I find strange looking back is that I don’t recall any detailed conversations taking place about the subject of college. We didn’t talk about whether or not I wanted to go to a university or what my grades and extracurriculars needed to be in order for me to go. Nor did we talk about preparing for SAT’s.My parents were definitely shocked when I told them I was joining the Army, a route they definitely didn’t see their daughter taking, but their objections weren’t because of delaying college.
Now that I have children of my own I want to be really prepared when my sons enter high school. Prepared with all kinds of information to give to them so that they know their options and the realities of life, most importantly how much harder it is to find a career when you don’t have a college degree. I will still tell them they can be most anything they would want to be but I will also explain to them what they would realistically need to do to get there. My goal as a parent is to always be very upfront with my kids about life and to give them as much information as possible about how to reach their goals. I will do my best not to push them too much in a certain direction.
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