Originally Posted by ABQMom
I really do feel for this parent who wrote honestly about her own issues and how they affected her child.
I feel for her too. The story about SAT's being compared at Penn was eye-opening for me. But...

Originally Posted by ABQMom
Essays for major pubs are usually in this breezy, pithy tone
The author is responsible for her control over that tone. In this case, it goes way too far into realm of "Ha ha, look how neurotic I am, but it's all okay because I'm confessing to it!" (I blame Anne Lamott for this particulary noxious trend.)

Here's where I think the writer does not get a pass: She coached her kid intensively for an IQ test. She gamed the system. But this is not one of the things that gets a self-mocking "How stupid am I?" from the writer. It's pretty clear at the end of the article that she feels relieved and vindicated that her kid is labeled "gifted," and that she believes the tester who tells her that her kid is very smart.

Absolutely no self-insight here, which is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of this genre of breezy writing.