A few years ago a friend offered me a piece of comfrey root for my yard. She warned me that it is invasive and would take over what ever area I planted it in. I thanked her and planted it in among other plants in my front walk bed. Every year since then has been a battle against spreading comfrey. Not only does it take up space, it's a water hog. The roots are tuberous so denying water only triggers dormancy until more appears. I have been digging and digging and digging and will continue to dig.

Something similar happened with Honey. When he was homeschooling his earlier years, he was free to manufacture his own universe. We do have family rules and expections in terms of basic education, but for the most part he was able to determine his own life. Then he went to Government High School. A year and a half was long enough for him to be strangled by Other People's Expectations. After he came out of GHS, he was working on an essay for a class. Hours later I checked with him and he was stumped; "I'm still working on the outline." Screw the outline, I said. Just start writing your thoughts. I found out today that he is doing Algebra II even though he loathes the subject. He's doing it because everyone else he knew was doing it and he felt that he needed it to be successful in life. Groan. What happened to all my lessons to him about finding what you enjoy doing and building on that? Wiped out by 1.5 years of Government High School peer pressure and bureaucratic expectations. I've been snipping these off when I run into them but I have a feeling I will be digging and digging at these insidious middle class tentacles for some time to come.