Usually when my son Ben arrives home after school he strides right past my office and pretends he doesn’t hear my stock question: How was your day?
But yesterday was different. He walked up to me and mumbled something that sounded like, “Mom, you were right.” I was stunned and curious about what could have prompted this remarkable observation.
“You were right about needing breakfast,” he continued. For years, I’ve been telling Ben, who is tooth-pick thin, that he needs to eat breakfast to get his brain cells firing in the morning.
And yesterday I yelled down the hall as he was leaving for his SAT prep class to eat something before he left. He didn’t bother.
But here’s the problem: When Ben got to his class, he had to take a full-length SAT practice test. And midway through, his energy evaporated.
Ben promised he’d eat a good breakfast for the real SAT test on May 2, when thousands of kids will fan out across the country to take the grueling test.
I do have a back up plan if Ben, with or without a bowl of Cheerios, ends up with a bad SAT score. There are now about 840 test optional schools in the country. Fairtest.org has compiled the handy list.
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of The College Solution and writes a college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com.