Columnist Unit: Krista Ramsey

I chose to read the article Raising Kids to Embrace the World, Then They do By Krista Ramsey.       A summary of this article is you are always teaching your kids to go out and embrace the world, and when they do, you will be proud, and also be upset, because you're loosing your child. 

“It's the most humbling lesson of parenting: We may be in charge of the prologue, but only they get to write the story of their lives.” I think that this line is best written.  This lines impact on the reader is it makes the reader think that they can start out someone’s book, but only the actual person can finish the book. This also makes the reader think that they are also in charge of their own story.  While this article was supposed to be about how a parent feels once their child leaves home, but it also encourages others to get up and  finish their story however they want to do it. 

               Ramsey's writing style is very realistic.  Examples of this are:

              1. "This is the site of final hugs and whispered "love you's" as we watch our just-                           grown children depart for New York or Chicago, Austin or Madison, Atlanta or L.A."

              Here Ramsey is describing what it is like to have a child leaving you at an airport,                         and she is describing it almost as if she had experienced it herself, because it                             seems very realistic. 

              2. "They think of it as heading home. We think of it as leaving home."

              Ramsey describes what is going through a young adult and parents mind as the                          child leaves the parent at the airport. 

              3. "Then we return to our car, fold ourselves across the steering wheel and sob."

              Ramsey states here what every parent has been through, or will go through if their                         child leaves to go out of state for a long time.  The parent has millions of things                             going through their mind, and they are worried for their child, and they cannot do                            anything except cry for a moment.  

Three questions that I would ask the writer if given the opportunity are:

1.    Have you ever experienced the reality of watching a child go off in an airport?

2.    You were once a young adult as well, did your mother and father go through this experience with you?

3.    If yes for number two, what was this situation like for you?