Soccer Mom

Soccer Mom, originally uploaded by unohuu.

Our kids go to school in a neighborhood far away from where I live. They are at an inner city school. I wanted them to have the benefit of ethnic, social and cultural diversity. I am finding that is a double-edged sword. There are always some negative elements that you think you can ignore as factors when you start doing the math. I had probably over reacted to the problem of my daughter being the only other non-white kid in her kindergarten class. She was performing well then...now we are struggling with her pre-teen years and her struggle to define herself. She has not chosen the "right" African-American children. She has chosen the ruffians and young hoodlums. Yes, there is some parental overreaction at play here. But I had hoped she would "hook up" with the "young nerds" who excel at school and have horrible social lives. Sounds familiar. Guess she is too smart for that. At some point we have to let them go and fend for themselves. If they are not consumed by the social services, criminal justice or CD systems, I guess they all have a good chance for survival. I bet my mother had similar worries about me. Even though I was an Angel.

This is my son's friend's mother. We see her two or three times a week. She works in my building, too. Small worlds we really do live in.