Life can be very cruel to a child if they make the wrong choices or pick the wrong friends. But what do kids know about choices? From what I remember, we mostly blindly follow our peers or try to emulate those that stand out. My parents never interfered much when it came to school stuff. At the time I was grateful for it, but I wish now that I had had a better understanding of how the rest of your life can be shaped by one event, one decision. Those days we had no one to tell us these things. No one acknowleged feelings back then. Oh we were loved, we knew that with certainity, but it was in a practical, absolutely intangible way. If someone had told me back then even half the things I tell my kid now, I might have turned out to be a completely different person. I probably wouldn't have stumbled around for a good portion of my early years enveloped in self doubt and insecurity.
Mind you, in a way I'm glad things went the way they did - because everything is pretty spiffy in the now.
