I guess it’s a trick of the spring-summer light, but this is always the time of year when I behold my children and feel actual surprise at how much bigger and older they seem all of the sudden. With school ending and summer beginning, I look at them and think that some magical confluence of life and learning has synced up and they actually look ready for the next grade, even if they themselves are mostly gearing up for summertime and summer camp and not much beyond that.
At 11, Adam still looks more like a boy than a man, and his behavior mostly falls along the same lines. He’s sarcastic without really knowing the difference between being clever and rude. He’s excitable about stuff that you’d think he’d have more perspective on. And yet, he’s increasingly kind and generous to others without suggestion or coercion. He wants to know more about life, but not that much more. A girl friend (there aren’t many) texted him and said: “I can’t believe I’m venting to you.” He then had to ask his older sister: “What does she mean by venting?”
At 15, Elena is figuring out how to balance her school work with everything that’s not school work. My wife and I still feel plugged in and our sense is that she’s doing a good job of having fun and not forcing herself to go where she doesn’t want to go socially—or in any way. She seems happy. But who knows? Earlier in the year, we had a gut feeling that she was spending so much time on social media and pop culture that it was impacting her studies. We spoke, and in the end she joked: “Is this intervention over?” But you know what? She made adjustments, saw the results, and liked what she saw.
I’m liking what I’m seeing too, with both of them, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. I hope our 2015-2016 Ultimate Guide finds you and your children well—and offers you a few good ideas for raising kids and enjoying family life in the city and beyond.
Enjoy,
Eric Messinger
Editor, emessinger@manhattanmedia.com
