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In my first blog posting I talked about the stress of being an educator and having everyone ask "where's your child going to kindergarten next year." It just so happens that since that last posting I have had conversations with two other educators in town who also are burdened by this additional stress to their pre-K anxiety.

The first person, who I'll call Ken, is a graduate student of mine who also happens to be a principal at a large, public elementary school. I asked him how often he gets the kinder-question. "Oh, about 5 times a day!" Most people who ask him assume incorrectly that he'll send his 5-year-old boy to his own school next year. It happens to be a high-performing school in an otherwise large, under-performing school district. "No way. It's a good school, but I can't do that to my kid." Ah yes, the pressure of being the preacher or teacher's kid. Or worse: the Principal's kid.

The second friend, Samantha, is a colleague who works at a university across town. She too has been in education for a long time -- she's now a professor of educational policy at a large research university. She too is bugged by this question as well as the stress it engenders in her. She's lucky enough to live in a neighborhood with a strong public, neighborhood school that happens to be a well-respected charter school. But she's applying to a couple private schools, just as "back-up." This is a woman who has conducted dozens of national research projects in schools, and even she is second-guessing her choice.

Does that make you feel any better?