And then with our kids, our ...(11)...precious kids, we spend so much time nudging, cajoling, hinting, helping, haggling, nagging as the case may be, to be sure they're not screwing up, not closing doors, not ...(12)...ruining their future, some hoped-for admission to a tiny handful of colleges that deny almost every ...(13)...applicant.
And here's what it feels like to be a kid in this checklisted childhood. First of all, there's no time for free ...(14)...play. There's no room in the afternoons, because everything has to be enriching, we think. It's as if every piece of homework, every ...(15)...quiz, every ...(16)...activity is a make-or-break moment for this future we have in mind for them, and we ...(17)...absolve them of helping out around the house, and we even ...(17)...absolve them of getting enough sleep as long as they're checking off the items on their checklist. And in the checklisted childhood, we say we just want them to be happy, but when they come home from school, what we ask about all too often first is their homework and their ...(18)...grades. And they see in our faces that our ...(19)...approval, that our love, that their very worth, comes from A's. And then we walk alongside them and offer clucking praise like a ...(20)...trainer at the Westminster Dog Show.
Phiêu Linh