Extra Extra! The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far

When Big Bro started creating his own website with the help of a few friends at school, I was a little surprised but also impressed. Even though the site is mainly pranks, jokes, and Wings of Fire fan fiction, his ability to create and connect multiple pages, forms and photos with relevant captions showed a tech savviness that’s sometimes hard for me to to find in my own office. One evening, he handed me a piece of paper he printed off our computer that referenced his website and said “News.” I glanced at it and smiled, noting his creation briefly while I continued my conversation with Drew.

Then later that week at the parent-teacher conference, his homeroom teacher brought out a printed paper, saying she was nervous at first when she saw my son distributing copies to his classmates. I looked at the paper and realized it was the same he’d handed me while I was talking. I should’ve paid more attention, because what he handed me was his own newsletter. And he used our printer at home to make copies for distribution.

I flipped through the pages of stories, jokes and links to his site for things like voting on the “person of the week.” His teacher and I had a good laugh and I told Big Bro it was fine to write a newsletter as long as his other work got done and I could be his managing editor before he sends it to print.

I received his fourth edition this week in my inbox. He now boasts a “staff” of about five other classmates who collaborate on reminders and topics. They add polls and fictional stories about hybrid zoo animals or sales on their site, and one true story about a substitute they had who was a published author. Complete with a link to purchase the book of course.

I don’t know what’s more unnerving for me as a parent. The fact that he seems more focused on this side project than any of his schoolwork, or the fact that he is showing such a passion for journalism. Drew and I left the news industry a decade ago, but the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I guess the only thing we can do now is see how this story unfolds.