Wednesday, June 10, 2015

WHAT 'ODD MOM OUT' GOT WRONG ABOUT APPLYING TO NYC KINDERGARTEN (AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID MAKING HER MISTAKES)


In my Kveller review of the new Bravo series, Odd Mom Out, I mention that the show about life on the Upper East Side of Manhattan got some key details wrong about the admittedly very complicated and stressful process of applying to NYC Kindergarten. (I also helpfully mention that I've written a book on the subject. Buy it now on Amazon! Subtle, I am not.)

What exactly did they get wrong? Behold!

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To crib from Senator Lloyd Bentsen, I’ve applied my kids to NYC schools. I’ve blogged for Kveller about applying to NYCSchools. I wrote an entire book on applying to NYC Schools. Odd Mom Out is not how you apply to NYC Schools.

The major flaw in their “applying the twins to Kindergarten” story is that the twins have an older sister. Where does she go to school? Why can’t her siblings go there? Even if she goes to an all-girl school, at least her sister can attend, which means they only have to stress over placing the brother. And since it’s been established that both parents grow up wealthy in NYC, where did they go? Why aren’t their kids legacies?

That said, the moment when their preschool director tells Jill, “Your children are young 4s, given their late July birthdays. So unfortunate…” rang extremely true for me. NYC private schools prefer children to be on the older side when they start Kindergarten, which is why they are reluctant to accept summer birthdays, especially boys. Jill tells the director they’re applying to both private and public schools. But then the birthday cut-offs wouldn’t match. With summer birthdays, you often have to go through the public school process one year, and private the next.

(Another, non-school related nitpick is Jill’s claim that “Getting a sitter on two hours notice is like the Triple Salchow of parenting. It can’t be done.” The Triple Salchow is actually the easiest of the Triple jumps; it’s being performed by juniors these days. I wrote a book on FigureSkating, too. Which you can also buy on Amazon. See? Not subtle!)

But, you know what? The above really doesn’t matter. It’s a sitcom, and the most important question is: Is it funny? 


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