<p>…Something like clothes or supplies that they may need for a class (not something you have around the house)? My S (freshman) sent me an email asking if I could buy and ship a clothing item that he needs for a phys ed class. He was also wondering if I would be coming there soon to take him to a grocery store. We live an hour away. He does not have a car but there are buses and he has a friend that has a car.</p>
<p>H thinks I should tell him to get the stuff himself. The mother in me wants to handle it myself.</p>
<p>S has texted/called and asked me to ship several items. We live halfway across the country, but he doesn’t have a car, and it is not easy to get to a store. When I visited last semester, we made 3 trips to the store in 5 days. I have shipped him a replacement phone, belt, flip flops at his request, as well as supplies that he ordered and didn’t think to have shipped to the dorm. I’ve also added snacks that as filler that I know he likes. </p>
<p>It is nothing to me to pick things up when I’m shopping. I know he works hard and has a very intense schedule with excellent grades this past semester, so I don’t mind at all. If he was lazing around, partying and hanging with friends all the time, I might feel differently, but as long as he’s working hard, I’m happy to make things a little easier.</p>
<p>My d is two flights away, lives in a dorm, has no car. It is conceivable for her to take a bus to Target or a grocery store but it is not trivial. I am glad there is a large CVS drug store (with a lot of snacks) in easy walking distance - a lot of things she ends up wanting are easy to get there.</p>
<p>Target.com and walmart.com (or even netgrocer.com) are worth considering. A few times this fall semester, she wanted or needed something she left behind at home and I sent it to her in a fixed rate priority mail box (adding little treats to fill the box - it costs the same no matter what the box weighs). I don’t buy her things she needs at Target and ship them to her though. target.com :D</p>
<p>bbkitty- Listen to your husband…these boring errands are life skills he must learn. The fact that he asked you to drive him to the grocery store when there are buses and friends with cars might show some laziness. Sometimes we have to encourage our fledglings to fly on their own.</p>
<p>DS has called and asked to have items shipped that he didn’t bring with him first time around.</p>
<p>If it is something I had previously suggested he might take and he had turned it down (with the requisite roll of the eyes :rolleyes:), I will ship it… but he pays the shipping cost.</p>
<p>If it is something else, I’m happy to do it. What are moms for?</p>
<p>He did avail himself of school shuttles to go shop for things, etc. And or use public transport/walk when he was at urban schools.</p>
<p>We were kinda amazed on why he would ship pots and pens home. All could be gotten cheaply and quickly anywhere. It all sits in our living room, in disheveled boxes while he’s on the other side of the world. The boxes of stuff has made two roundtrip, continental trips, he’s making a big the carbon footprint.</p>
<p>Here’s one to take the cake. Our S went to some formal (extra curric. activity or frat) and apparently over-imbibed. He made a mess of his suit and asked us, his P’s , to please come pick it up and have it dry cleaned because he did not know where to go in his college town to have it done.</p>
<p>Needless to say we did not do as requested…</p>
<p>the most popular thing I’ve had my kids request to ship is some sort of clothing outfit that’s home in their closet. If they have a special occasion coming up (semi-formal, etc.) they may ask me to ship a dress/sweater/shoes, etc. And I have done that. I really don’t think they’ve asked for anything else. </p>
<p>I take it back… D1 just moved into her first apartment, 1000+ miles away, to an area she’s never lived in. She has been coloring her hair for a few years now, and has one brand of shampoo that she limits herself to; she usually picks it up when she’s home getting her hair done, but she ran out right after moving, and she knew I was going to the hair place right before Thanksgiving, so she asked me to pick some up. She came home for the holiday, and took it back. I told her it’s the last time I’ll pick it up, and I certainly am not going to send it in the future. She needs to either find a place on line she can order it from, or find a store near her that sells it. I didn’t tell her that, afterwards, I looked up the brand on-line and there are places that sell it in her area (only available in salons). She will have to figure that out.</p>
<p>Well, she WOULD have called to have me ship it, except that she left her CELL PHONE at home at the end of Christmas Break. These are the future leaders of our country? I overnighted it, mainly for my peace of mind about keeping in touch with her, not in response to her desperate lamenting over the loss of social life. Sigh.</p>
<p>Guilty mom here…just mailed an 18 pound box with stuff that wouldn’t fit into her carry on bag. Of course I threw in some extra goodies, too.</p>
<p>However, I just got an email from her requesting books she has at home tonight (reading material for classes) and replacements for lost mittens. My view is that she’s busy enough doing well in school and activities, if I can do something small like mail her a package to help…I’m happy to do it. Besides, it’s cold out there for a little FL girl not used to the weather yet.</p>
<p>USPS flat rate boxes hold a lot of stuff and take two days to fly across the country. I used D’s two requests to fill the box with care package goodies. When D asked for headphones so she could tune out the noisy conversations, I was happy to help. The headphones were carefully packed in some chocolates, jerky and satsumas. She was very happy to see her favorite seasonal fruit!</p>
<p>D goes back to school in 2 weeks from winter break, and we are starting to assemble a box to ship back already. She will have excess clothing that will not fit into her suitcase that SHE has bought at X-mas sales, and I am watching sales for all toiletries and hope to have her completely stocked for the semester with hair products, contact solution, OTC medications, etc. She does have access to Target, Wal-mart and clothing stores via bus as well as a drug store within walking distance, but I feel I can get the items here at home and even with the shipping cost save money, and her time as well as her southern self not having to go out in the snow/ice more than necessary.</p>
<p>I guess I’m the odd duck. I have never shipped anything to S1 (senior) in four years unless you count mailing his birth certificate to him so he could get a passport. He is three hours fr. home and has always had a car at school so has handled all his needs himself. S2 is a freshman four hours fr. home. So far, no requests fr. that one either.</p>
<p>Adding to the odd duck count…S1 decided to live off-campus this year even without a car (housemates both have cars). Other than care packages of home-baked goods, we would not ever shop and ship stuff to him across country, and he knows it. Even in the desert there are Walmarts, KMarts and grocery stores. He’s a big boy; he can figure it out.</p>
<p>My daughter just left for school yesterday. She forgot quite a few things at home, they are private and unmentionables on this forum. She knew I would forget and not get it done, so she called her dad and give him the list. It was funny last night when my H showed me the list. He said,“I know we want to have open relationship with our kids, but this is too much information.”</p>
<p>I am more likely to order online for grocery and clothes for D1 than do the actual shipping.</p>
I can’t imagine buying groceries or clothes online for my son. (Except as a birthday present.) He’s got a credit card, if he wants to spend his money that way that’s up to him. Pittsburgh has a decent bus system and it’s free to CMU students, he’s learned to get his own groceries.</p>