Our competitive advantage: We are not your child’s parents

“Whatever you do is magic.” I hear that statement from parents of our Connecticut students all the time. We are very proud of the team we have put together and the results that we have created. But I always note that we have a big edge: we are not the parents of your children. Part of our “magic” is the seemingly strange but entirely true notion that teenagers have an automatic aversion to working with their parents on their homework and a nearly automatic desire to work with a helpful outsider.

The psychological reasoning is as follows: parents have a dual role of nurturer and authority figure.  The roles get conflated when the student is doing his/her work.  This is naturally confusing to both parent and child.  Are you helping me or are you criticizing me when you show me how to do a math problem?  Are you trying to guide me or are you judging me when I show you my essay?

With our team, there is no such confusion. We are here to help.  That’s our magic.