Meg Wolitzer

That was Randall Park performing We Only Wanted Their Happiness by Alexander Weinstein.

I'm Meg Wolitzer.

While we're not yet installing chips in our kids' brains, I'm sure many parents could identify with that moment of compromise.

Maybe your compromise was about access to sugar or an iPhone.

Whatever the case, you gave them a taste and hoped it wouldn't turn them into someone you didn't recognize.

I'm reminded of an anecdote a friend once told me.

She and the writer Jane Smiley and Jane's kids were in a store, and one of the kids was haranguing her mother about candy.

Jane Smiley plucked up a lollipop and handed it to the kid.

Then she turned to our mutual friend and explained her actions.

She said, never make them crave the mediocre.

I love that as a philosophy of child rearing.

You see, Selected Shorts isn't just about stories.

Oh no, sometimes we offer actual useful advice.

Next, we'll hear something from the writer Honor Levy.

She's a young writer with a powerful voice whose debut collection is titled My First Book.

She's also published stories in The New Yorker and New York Tyrant.

The story was read by Annie Hamilton.

She's a writer and actor who has appeared in series including Dickinson and Inventing Anna.

Also, she has performed her funny one-woman show Looking for Papa at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York.

And now, Annie Hamilton performs Good Boys by Honor Levy.