It Might Be Okay to Praise Your Children Now and Then
Modern parenting isn’t as fraught with danger as you might think.
“You did an acceptable job, I guess.”
Photographer: Archive Photos/Getty Images
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One hundred years ago, when I was 5 years old, the local school district labeled me “gifted” and let me skip kindergarten and go straight to first grade. This was supposed to help me in life, I guess. But what it really did was make me forever a year younger than my classmates, deprive me of valuable in-class nap time, and burden me with expectations that made any accomplishment feel at best like par for the “gifted” course. A newsletter? Is this really the best you can do, Mister Too Smart For Kindergarten?