This was such a good piece and something that needs to be talked about. Kids these days are so worried about getting accepted to a major college, and they are spreading themselves so thin! Sadly, I was pushing my daughters when they are younger just to find that this is NOT what matters. They just need to be happy. My HS senior, Mia too, pushed and pushed, is graduating with a 4.1 but still only got into 2 colleges out of 10. The 2 were not ones she really wanted but the end of the day, none of it really matters. Like you said, I'm just an average mom like you. I think I was putting all my failures on her, and I feel terrible about it now. So, I changed my ways a few years ago and stopped even asking them if they did their homework. Sorry this is so long, but I got very into this!!