At about 9:30 last night, my younger son and I picked up the remnants of his older brother’s birthday party escapades that had been strewn about the front lawn and road. It was the tween equivalent of drunken debauchery: caffeine and sugar laden mayhem mixed with the hormones of the co-ed group. It looked like frat row after rush week, except it was coke cans and water bottles littered like Easter eggs across a lawn. For a group of kids that have a uniform requirement at school, this was an enlightening night. Their school monitors the height of their socks, the length of the skirts, the presence of belts and make-up. Hair can’t touch the eyebrows for boys or be an unnatural color. To see these kids in “street clothes” with make up and jewelry…..Whoa! I have watched some of these kids since kindergarten. They all head to high school next year and I am proud of the entire lot. They are really wonderful kids: smart, funny, unique and with a strength of character of which I am proud. They are happy kids and a true joy to know…even jacked up on high fructose corn syrup.