Parents should put aside $25 a week in a College Club account in a low yield 2.5% CD. If you work for the City of New York, that comes directly out of your payroll check. It is an 18 year investment and when your kid turns 18, you get $21,600 and tack on the 2.5% interest and that gives you another few hundred. You can double that at some point if the kid really seems like he is college-bound. Well, I know someone is asking what if you don't have a job and you are banking on basketball for your kid to get to college and one day take care of you with a pro ball career? Well. I'm not going there. Too many people out there like that.
If the kid is 6'11 and doesn't want to play basketball as a parent, I would really be upset with my son. I would however back off if he said he didn't want to play and hold him accountable. He would have to have a plan to work and get out of my house because I am not feeding an clothing a 7 foot kid with big and tall man store gear when he can make a sacrifice and take care of himself. My plea to him would be "do you think I feel like getting cursed out by some teenager and his stupid ass mother, grading papers on a Saturday night, and getting up at 5:00AM to come to a 1st period class with 4 kids? No but I do it so you can have the Real Frosted flakes, Nathan's franks, Nikes, cable, video games and long ass tall f%^&$ TRue Religion pants? I do what I have to do!" If that doesn't work, I really can't say. I would resort to verbal abuse I really ain't gone even lie.
"you big tall professional light bulb changer. What are you going to do for a living without basketball? You 6'11! you gone be a park ranger and look for lost kids over the trees? You gone stand in the harbor and waive ships in with flashlights? Oh no I get it, you are going to sit on bear mountain and soak your feet in the lake after tending to baby eagles in eagle nests"!
Im not that strong of a parent. If my kid got accepted to Harvard, Furman, Brown and Princeton on scholarship and he wanted to go to Hostos to chill with his girl, I would lose it the same way.