<p>I won’t miss the helipcopter moms who stressed me out with their talk about their kids’ GPAs and ECs.</p>
<p>Trying to sleep while waiting for the kid downstairs to finish the all-night paper-writing marathon, or while waiting for the slam of the car door in the driveway signaling that DS or DD is home.</p>
<p>All that attitude.</p>
<p>I don’t miss being given last minute notice about things due yesterday or in a few minutes or the endless chauferring. The hardest is not knowing when the darlings will wake up & how late they will stay up. Their hours are out of sync with hubby’s work schedule & it’s hard on him & us.</p>
<p>I don’t miss conferences with the school about health & absences–those we dreaded more the all the rest put together!</p>
<p>I’m not quite done yet, but I would love to be sports and award banquet FREE!!! I hate those things.</p>
<p>Don’t miss being homework monitor (pre-high sch)
sweaty,stinky awful football practice gear
carpool
trips to the orthodontist
teacher conferences
buying a bunch of “back to school” stuff on the required list that never got used
fundraiser stuff
dishes found in rooms other than the kitchen (OK only one kid did that)</p>
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</p>
<p>So, my kids used to live at your house? Add to that finding black skirts for picky girls at 6PM.
Learning Friday night at 4 that the band was marching in khaki shorts instead of uniforms because of the heat. Be at the stadium by 5. Your kid owns nothing khaki.
All the black socks in the house belonged to the band kid.</p>
<p>Yes, I do miss it sometimes, but not enough to do it again before grandkids!</p>
<p>Lice enough said</p>
<p>working in the concession stand</p>
<p>staying up until 2 a.m. icing cupcakes for a school birthday treat</p>
<p>having to clean the kitchen every time I walk into it (no matter how little time has elapsed since I left…didn’t I JUST wipe up that counter??)</p>
<p>early morning trips to the store for breakfast food from the last-minute sleepovers</p>
<p>that horrible “music” ?!?
(wow, that makes me sound old & crotchety, but that booombadaboom crap drives me to drink!)</p>
<p>I can’t believe no one has mentioned this yet: not having to wake up my kid in the morning.</p>
<p>wow, at my house it was the opposite O.O my mom didn’t have to do that.</p>
<p>Daily transportation- in college it’s infrequent but looong trips. </p>
<p>Had to buy son a suit the morning of a wedding last spring- we were already OOS vacationing and he made a weekend trip from college- thank you Penneys for opening at 10 am, having a good clerk and a sale (had to be well north of hotel near airport by 11:30 am so son could run in a 5K race with groom before the 4 pm wedding he was a groomsman in). The parenting doesn’t end with college. Suit has gone to 2 spring weddings and a summer without alterations- a tad generous (better than the smaller size with no room to grow) coat and long pants.</p>
<p>Making sure supper was fixed early before a concert. And getting him there early…</p>
<p>So many already mentioned things.</p>
<p>I’ll be the experienced parent spoiler. Guess what- just when you get used to their absence and not missing so many things they come home for a visit or vacation and you are- running out of milk when their was a lot left at bedtime, waiting for them to come home in the wee hours, having messes by the door, in the hall…</p>
<p>Wet towels not in the bathroom- and several used because they weren’t there to dry and be used again (much less laundry now).</p>
<p>High water and electric bills- real differences. Those long showers at night, can always hear the water.</p>
<p>Parent teacher conferences. </p>
<p>Needing to keep track of half days, days off and the weather for school closings and early dismissals (got a phone call from son’s first grade teacher when they shut down school for snow after lunch- I was home but without the tv or radio on).</p>
<p>Needing to plan evenings and weekends around extracurriculars. The drives out of town to watch sports- in town no problem.</p>
<p>Summer rec league soccer. Swimming lessons, park tennis lessons, local summer day camps of all sorts.</p>
<p>Needing to buy shoes and clothes for his growing body every season.</p>
<p>Looking for library books needing to be returned.</p>
<p>Child birthday parties- especially those at restaurants/commercial places you have to drive to and stay at. Chuck E Cheese pizza. Planning, preparing for, buying silly favors for, doing the clean up for at parties.</p>
<p>Nagging him to do things and waiting for them to get done whereas now you know you are going to do them yourself and can plan to get them done at your convenience (lawn mowing and snow shoveling especially).</p>
<p>But honestly, now that they are both gone, ^ those were some of the best years of my life.
I miss all of the activity and all of the friends. It’s too quiet here. I NEVER thought I’d say that!</p>
<p>Visits to the orthodontist and oral surgeon… and the checks that were written each time.</p>
<p>Group projects.</p>
<p>srw just said what I was thinking as I read this. I’m happy that my kids are launched but sometimes I miss them so much. Feeling rather sorry for myself right now because this is the first summer that none of them have come home for more than a weekend.</p>
<p>Book covers. Walked by a display of “book socks” today and thought, “I never have to buy those again!”</p>
<p>OMG mousegray!! I don’t know how I missed that one…an excruciating 18-year battle to get that child moving in the morning!!! Will DEFINITELY not miss that!</p>
<p>Oddly enough, S had his first real job this summer, and managed to get himself up every time he needed to (even at 5 a.m.). That should’ve made me happy, but just made me see red…so he could do it all along!! Grrrrrrr</p>
<p>Making lunches for picky eaters.</p>
<p>This thread is making me sad. I miss this stuff.</p>