Aspirations and Reality

My son is a very bright kid. Learning just about anything has always been very easy for him. He has always made straight As. He attends a “school of choice” or magnet program in our city. He always scores in the top 3-5% nationally on standardized testing. Although he does well in everything and loves to read, he especially excels in math and science.

Because of all of these factors, T aspires for him to go to MIT. (I think he dreams about it at night.) He has mentioned it on several occasions…. almost daily. My son’s room however, is decked out in orange and black. He has posters of football and basketball players from the school on his walls and orange and black blankets and pillows on his bed. A couple of weeks ago, I had a conversation with G in the car on the way to watch a game. After that conversation with my son, I told my husband that he might as well give up. (I guess the orange and black room didn’t tip him off.)

We had to drive to a friend’s house to watch the football game. My son was beside himself because we were most likely going to miss kick off.

I said, “G settle down. If we miss it, we just miss it. It’s just kick off. We’ll be there right after for the entire rest of the game.” This, however, merely agitated him more.

“Mom, are you really a true fan, because I don’t think you are!” he said.

“Yes, G. I am a true fan, but I don’t think missing kick off is the end of the world.”

G said (yelling this time, although I don’t think he realized he was yelling-he was just extremely agitated.)“No Mom! I don’t think you really are a true fan! I mean, do you bleed orange and black, because I bleed orange and black!!!!”