Last night, after a holiday party in DUMBO, I lumbered through the cold to the home of one of best friends. I called about 10 minutes ahead of time, to warn him, so essentially it was a surprise visit that he agreed to. One of the pleasures of the visit was that I also got to chat with one of his daughters, now a senior in high school. I asked her to catch me up on the college admissions process since my own daughter, a high school junior, is a student with similar interests and aptitudes. For me though, the most helpful tidbit she share had nothing to do with school, or at least not with academics or admissions.
My friend was saying how lately he’s been reliably getting to the local gym at 6:30am every morning.
I can’t do that, I complained, because I make my children breakfast, and lunch sometimes, too.
His daughter started laughing at this information. So did my friend.
“He has many great qualities,” she said of her dad. “But he’s never made us breakfast or lunch.”
“So how does this work?” I asked naively.
“They make their own breakfast, or none,” he said of his daughter and his other children, starts laughing again. “She made herself pancakes once, and then took the rest of it to school for lunch.”
“That’s true,” she agreed.
From what I hear, January is an excellent time to introduce new customs around the house.
Children who make their own breakfast and lunch?
I know it shouldn’t sound like a revolutionary idea to me, but it does.
Eric Messinger, [email protected]
