How to help a theater kid: parenting advice from Care and Feeding.

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. ­Dear Care and Feeding, My son, who is in first grade, is a very bright, imaginative child who seems to be well-liked by his peers, and his teachers describe him as “everyone’s buddy.” Despite this, he often comes home from school dejected because no one wanted to play with him at recess. “Since my daughter, like your son, had friends outside of school who were interested in her directing them in an elaborate at-home production of The Lion King, I also talked about the principle of finding one’s people.” But since my daughter, like your son, had friends outside of school who were interested in her directing them in an elaborate at-home production of The Lion King, I also talked about the principle of finding one’s people. I’m talking about “Do you see yourself at a big school or a small school?” “Do you want a residential experience or does that not matter?” etc. You might try asking, “Do you want to be far from home or near?” and “What subjects are you absolutely sure you are not going to major in?” But mostly I’ve learned that listening while they talk about what they like to do and why, what they daydream about when they picture their far future, and what they imagine college might be like yields better results than holding their feet to the fire.