Between 1968 and 1974, more than 600 students at Bing Nursery School in Palo Alto, Calif., took part in the "marshmallow test," one of the most famous studies in psychology. The "test" was the brainchild of psychologist Walter Mischel, then of Stanford University, who set out to understand how children develop the ability to delay gratification, a critical skill for success in life.
On Aug. 18, 2004, Sukey Forbes' middle child woke not feeling well. Forbes sent her two siblings off to camp and kept 6-year-old Charlotte home. They made cinnamon toast and put each other's hair up in pigtails. A few hours later, in the emergency room of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Charlotte was dead, having succumbed to a high fever related to a rare genetic disorder.
You know how you don’t really remember the pain of childbirth? You won’t remember the stress of the college application process once it’s over, either. Honestly. Though just as we continue to share the blow-by-blow of our delivery room action as we bond with other mothers, we find ourselves trading stories of the trials and triumphs of the college application process, too.