Just a Kid

Life moves pretty fast, as Ferris told us, but there would have been consequences had he really gotten busted.

Life makes you grow up pretty fast sometimes.

There are, of course, circumstances in which one can, and should, be young. You know, act their age.

But there comes a point where the saying "just a kid" needs to fly out the window.

I'm a pretty tough but fair dad. I've worked with Sean on being respectful and appropriate.

Not saying "thank you" at virtually any age brought a swift rebuke.

Sorry. but "just a kid" doesn't fly there.

So when he steps into "big boy" circumstances, there are no excuses.

When he went on the air with me at the Greenwich Town Party, criticism would have been totally fair. The reviews were kind.

Yet I knew that stepping into that arena (pardon the pun) opened us both up. It would have been justified if he was bad, and I would have had to deal with it.

In fact, I was prepared for our Operations Manager at WGCH, Bob Small, to criticize him. Bob is not known to hold his thoughts -- good and bad. We've had our share of disagreements for sure as we've voiced our opinions.

Fortunately, it was not a problem.

So that's the thing. "Just a kid" becomes a crutch. It should be fair game to criticize when the "kid" steps into the big arena and, yet, they get the treatment of diplomatic immunity.

Or, more often than not, whispering goes on behind backs because no one wants to overstep the Just a Kid Treaty.

I try to build reality with Sean. He doesn't have certain advantages, and that actually includes me.

He was in a radio "club" in high school that had literally nothing to do with radio, and he quickly became disillusioned with it. There was nothing I could do about it.

He's going to earn everything in life. Just as I have.

That's not always the case, as advantages (read: money) buys opportunities. It's frustrating, but there's little that can be done about it.

Not everything deserves a trophy.

It's just real life.