I’m writing this note on the coldest day of the year so far—a Friday in mid-February—on which I traveled with my son’s 5th grade class as a parent-chaperone on a bus trip from their neighborhood school on the Upper East Side to a Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn to hold a mock trial. The trip was the culmination of a special enrichment program about the Constitution and the courts. The trial, which they’d been practicing for over a few weeks, was a classic “free speech” case. The kids were divided into three groups: Lawyers for a newspaper, lawyers for the federal government, and the justices of the Supreme Court. Though some of the trial was scripted, the kids also engaged in a good deal of follow-up debate that was live—as was the Court’s verdict!
Seeing the children embody serious roles normally left to adults, a few outside references came to mind. I had recently seen Woody Allen’s classic “Annie Hall” again, and I recalled that memorable bit in which the kids from his grade school, still sounding and looking like children, reveal what happened to them as adults. Also, just the other day on Facebook, someone from my own 4th grade class posted the class photo and that prompted a rush of friendly comments and even talk of a reunion.
And then I thought back to my son: Will life be kind to him? Will I be around to share much of it with him? And if I told him how re-acquainting with people on Facebook made me wonder if I could have had better friendships with many of them back then, would he get it? Would he care?
As a parent, I’d say I err on the side of overdoing it on the advice front, meaning that with undue frequency I try to impart my life experiences to my children, even though they relate to it, of course, not with adult comprehension, but through the prisms of their own experience.
I do this even though, in truth, I really don’t want them to get it until they’re ready to. As much as I care about their futures, I love being a parent to children and don’t want to give that up until they need me to.
Have A Happy March,
Eric Messinger
Editor, [email protected]
