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Connie E. Curry
Homework Assignment

I have always considered myself a highly qualified homework assistant. I am a pro, as a matter of fact. As my son steadily progressed toward middle school, I refreshed my memory on fractions, proper grammar, how gravity works, and where Sri Lanka is on the map.

So, when my thirteen-year-old son unpacks his homework assignment for the day, I am sure I can gather my skills and help him. He sits down at the kitchen table, and I peer over his shoulder as I am peeling potatoes. He is to define twenty words.

“Piece of cake! Ryan, this is not a difficult assignment,” I say, relieved that it is not a science project. I still want him to believe that I am smarter than he is. After all, he is a mere child of thirteen; I am a grown woman, with an education and life experience. I know it was Isaac Newton who discovered gravity. Wasn’t it something to do with an apple falling from a tree? …

Excerpted from I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers Copyright 2005 by Connie E. Curry