The Invisible Ledger: What We Trade for Our Children’s Dreams

The Invisible Ledger: What We Trade for Our Children’s Dreams

The first time I realized how much parenting a talented child would cost, I wasn’t tallying up private lessons or tuition. I was driving home from yet another competition, my daughters asleep in the backseat, light from their costume catching the sunset like shrapnel from a life I no longer recognized. I should’ve felt triumphant—they had done well. Instead, I felt hollowed out. There was something I couldn’t name unraveling inside me, a quiet erosion.