I know jealousness is human nature, but sometimes it is really too much if it involves children.

A friend of mine who is an IB teacher has a daughter of the same age as Yaya. Sometime ago, we were talking about the extended essay (EE) IB students have to write and she accidentally mentioned she has copies of the student EE papers from her school. So I asked her if she would let me have a look at them. She found an excuse each time and I got the message loud and clear.. that she really doesn’t want to give it to me for fear of Yaya getting more marks than her daughter.

Yesterday two of my very good friends had the worst argument one could ever witness. It was all to do with their daughters applying to US universities.

Friend 1 is a Harvard graduate and is an American living in Australia.

Friend 2 is an ordinary single mom whose daughter suddenly decided that she will also sit for the SAT and apply to US unis.

Friend 2’s daughter scored more marks for SAT than friend 1 and things went down hill. Friend 1 doesn’t want friend 2’s daughter to apply in certain unis, cause her daughter is applying to those unis and her chance of getting the admission will go down if two students from the same school apply and one has better SAT score.

We have all been friend for more than 5 years and meet each other for dinner every month. But all of a sudden, when our daughters are getting ready to apply for Uni admissions, you notice how bitchy everyone really is.

In life there will always be a student who is better than your child, just as there will always be a student not as good in studies like your child. Would it be so hard to accept someone doing better than your child? Is there a need for jealousy?