Even with her demanding job as Queens borough president, Melinda Katz manages to carve out special quality time with her two sons, Carter, 6, and Hunter, 4. She says family is the best thing you can have in your life.
First-grader Carter attends a public school in Queens and is doing very well and making friends, according to his mom, who says she tries to get him outside more. His brother will be attending pre-K at the same school next year, under Mayor Bill DeBlasio’s new universal pre-K policy.
Both boys love basketball and are into karate, guitar lessons, baseball, and soccer.
Katz — who separated from her partner and the father of her two boys, WABC-AM’s Curtis Sliwa, 61, last year — took time from her hectic work schedule to talk about what she considers her biggest achievement — being a mom.
Tammy Scileppi: How does a borough president handle mommyhood?
Melinda Katz: I am one of the luckiest moms I know. My job allows me to walk my kids to school every morning and go home during the day, even if it’s only for a half hour. I do homework with my first-grader. I may be out late at night, but my flexibility allows me to partake in their lives. I feel every mom should be so lucky and every mom is not.
My children are truly my life; family always comes first. We call our family “Team Katz.” We are a close bunch, my kids and I. People have been so kind to them when I travel the borough. I try to bring them with me to senior centers and veterans groups.
TS: Are your boys aware that they live in the most diverse area in the world?
MK: I try to expand their minds on what goes on in this borough. They are very well aware of the fact that there are 130 languages spoken in the schools; that there are different countries folks come from, and how great that is. They meet new folks, and they’re curious, asking things like, “what kind of cooking goes on at home?”
TS: This is the first year Common Core is being taught throughout New York schools. How do you feel about it?
MK: Hunter is taking Common Core to learn math. I’m not a big fan. I heard from other parents in the borough how difficult homework is for their children, because the Common Core is not about 5 and 5 equals 10. It’s about how to get there. So, if my child knows what 23 plus 2 equals, they still have to mark it, and count it on a graph, and figure out the chart.
From my perspective, math should be the universal language. You should be able to look at a math problem in any language and be able to do that math problem. As I said on NY1 a few weeks ago, sometimes 5 and 5 is really 10.
Common Core is a state requirement. Standards are a good thing; we should have standards for our kids. And it should be national standards; that’s the right thing to do. Every time I have a PTA meeting, it’s the first issue that comes up.
Homework should be something that every parent should be able to help their children with. (It’s only the math that I think is a problem.)
TS: What’s it like raising your boys in the same house you grew up in?
MK: It’s pretty wild. You walk into a bedroom, and your son is sitting on the same ledge that you sat on 50 years ago. I think my kids value the history that the house brings. I’ll be talking to them in the hallway, and I’ll sit down with them and say, “You know, when I grew up, my dad used to walk down this hallway and at eight o’clock, he’d say, ‘snack time!’ ”
And we used to go to the same ice cream shop we go to today — Eddie’s Sweet Shop on Metropolitan Avenue.
History is a good thing for kids. When you pass on things from generation to generation, I think it’s a very thoughtful thing to do.
TS: What were your parents like? Many people aren’t aware that your mother founded Queens Council on the Arts.
MK: My parents were very cultural, very giving back to the community. My mom [Jeanne] founded Queens Council on the Arts in 1969 (queen
[Katz’s father, David, was founder and conductor of the Queens Symphony Orchestra.]
I grew up with three older brothers. My mother died when I was 3, and my father raised us alone. He died when I was 20. My dad was strong and caring; he did his best.
TS: What is your perspective on raising kids in New York City?
MK: The issues that I’m facing here in Queens are the same issues every mom is facing throughout New York City. You want your children to grow up in a community that cares; to know that they’re safe; that the family structure is strong — whatever their family structure is — they’re all different. Families are important.
Single parents all over New York are facing difficult challenges, but everyone overcomes.
The city is a fascinating place to raise a family; it’s urban, it’s suburban, it’s both. I represent 130 languages. Across the board — wherever you live, wherever your parents come from — everyone wants the exact same thing for their kids. Every parent wants a better life for their children than they ever dreamed for themselves, and we all do what’s necessary, and we do it out of love to give them that.
I think everybody has different challenges in achieving that goal.
TS: What are your challenges as a parent?
MK: I’m going to be 50 this year. So, it’s quite interesting to have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. Most of the mothers I come across are much younger than I am. So, I have to work with that dynamic, as well. But I’m young at heart!
I know one thing about children, because I remember my childhood so well: you never remember the good things, but the ones that were missing. My children probably won’t remember that I walked them to school every day, but will remember the days I didn’t. Everyday stuff, I find, is the most important. It’s great to do special things, but the everyday lessons, the everyday togetherness and conversations; the talks I have while walking my kids to school, they remember that.
Every single night for my children, to put them to sleep, I sing “On My Own,” a song from “Les Miserables,” and “Hush Little Baby.” My kids love that so much.
It is critical to have parents be an integral part of the decision-making process to shape and set education policies. As a mom of two young boys, I can attest firsthand to the impact that parental involvement has on our education system. Queens parents are some of the most active, vocal, and effective in the city, and the difference is clear. The nexus of collaboration between families, educators, and surrounding community is the key to the success of our schools.
