At the point when my daughter is entering high school, I feel it time to do some cleaning, that is, removing from the house things that might never be touched at any point by anybody in near future.

Children outgrow not only clothes but also and mostly toys and books. I did a cleaning of toys when my daughter entered middle school, leaving only clothes and books in her room. Now another one is due.

I bought from China boxes of Chinese books, both pictures, easy-reading ones, hoping someday they would read them. By now, I have been very disappointed.

Lately, I have been debating in my mind whether to donate them to the high school where Chinese is taught or keep them, hoping and waiting for them to wake up someday, wishing to learn Chinese, for whatever reason.

Maybe I should long ago get rid of these books so that I do not harbor any illusion of their ever desiring to learn Chinese. Maybe I would not have felt disappointed if I had not hoped for them to learn.

Last Monday, 8/17, after the first day of school, on the way home, I talked to my daughter about picking up her Chinese. She finally agreed to invest 15 minutes per day on Chinese. I promised her she would be surprised by the progress she would made just by 15-minute a day on Chinese.

I realize at some point, parenting means accepting and reconciling your hopes and expectations with the reality. This way everybody can live happily ever after.