<p>*In December D was pulled over in her university town for going 70 in a 60. First time ever, and a driver for 5+years. When the officer asked for her insurance card, she gave him the medical insurance card!
*</p>
<p>You need to get your D together with Rockvillemom’s son…between the two of them they’ll be able to get the right insurance card to the right person. </p>
<p>*First time driving himself to a doctor appointment on his own. Told him to make sure he had his insurance card with him. He gave the receptionist - his auto insurance card! *</p>
<p>A couple of years ago, we were getting ready to take S to the airport for a trip to summer camp - he was a counselor. We’d sent his bags up early so he could take care of the kids and not worry about baggage.</p>
<p>All he had to carry was his backpack. He’d packed it the night before and I checked it to make sure he had everything. Next morning, I headed upstairs to get something, leaving S and his Dad to their own devices for a minute.</p>
<p>While waiting for him to get thru the baggage check, we noticed thru the window that he was pulled over with his backpack. Imagine my surprise when the security guy pulled out his 18 inch Maglite! :-/ When we were buying it up in Maine, a local guy told us they are really good flashlights - they can also be used as a weapon. He was serious.</p>
<p>Turns out S says to Dad (in that one minute!!) “Do ya think I could take my Maglite?” and Dad - without missing a beat - says “Sure!!” </p>
<p>I can’t leave the two of them alone for a second.</p>
<p>Still remember the time the kiddos (they were just barely in grade school then) decided it would be “fun” to say we had a bomb in our luggage (this was well before 9/11). We were irked but after searching the luggage carefully and giving the kids a VERY STERN warning, we allowed to board. </p>
<p>About a dozen years later, S decided he’d do crafts on the plane (post 9/11). He brought a scissors and was surprised they decided to confiscate it, even tho we had warned him when we were packing. He was a teen by then!</p>
<p>Once, he decided to put everything into ONE bag. Ended having to pay $100 overweight charge, even tho he had another empty bag with him–they wouldn’t allow him to shift things from one bag into the other to entirely avoid the charge! He’s never paid another luggage charge in his life!</p>
<p>Last summer, before we left on our vacation, son had packed a fishing knife into his checked baggage. While at our destination, he put the knife into a side pocket of my beach bag (which was also my carry on luggage). Fast forward 2 weeks and it’s time to fly home. We fly into our local airport, we collect our checked luggage, and my son says…“Mom, in which bag did you put my knife.” What knife? I asked. “The one I put in the pocket of your beach bag.” I opened up the side pocket and there was the knife. OMG</p>
<p>We had flown across the country with a serious knife in my carry on bag. I was so shook up at the thought of what would have happened if TSA had found that knife. (I’d probably now be in Gitmo or something…lol)</p>
<p>Lesson for everyone…recheck the contents of your carryon…especially after a long trip.</p>
<p>Actually, they’d probably have confiscated the knife & you’d never see it again. H lost a nice Swiss army pocket knife that way because he absent-mindedly left it in his ditty bag, like his pre-9/11 days. The took S’s scissors that could barely cut paper as well.</p>
<p>S HAS foolishly traveled with a mini-folding knife on his keychain and has not had it confiscated because it just looks like an ornament but he needs to remember to remove it & avoid a LOT of hassle + loss.</p>
<p>After I stopped laughing, she told me that she gave him that card because it’s the only kind of insurance card she carries. The auto insurance is a piece of paper kept in the glove box. She said she thought it weird that he wanted the insurance, but since he said card, she gave him the card.</p>
<p>She also said she could tell he was holding back laughter when she gave him the card.</p>
<p>Yea, our kiddos have trouble dealing with insurance in healthcare settings too. Most of our kids put that in the category of “stuff parents do,” and can remain fortunately oblivious for quite a while with comical results like these. D always says yes, she has TONS of insurance cards but has a hard time remembering to actually BRING it when she will need to present it to providers. ;)</p>
<p>Sounds like a lot of these issues are caused by cell phones and 24-7 parental availability. Before cell phones, I’m sure people who rarely grocery shopped were confused when they had to pick up a steak or an onion but they had to just make a choice or maybe find a store employee who could help. Now there’s no need to be self sufficient bc you can always find a parent, friend etc. who will pick up the phone for your every question. Isn’t it a bit embarrassing to be a grown adult who can’t tell time on an analog clock, write a check or figure out how to use a mailbox!? While these skills are far less important than they used to be bc of cell phones, debit cards and email, there are still situations in which they are needed – it’s not like you have to drive a 100 miles to find a clock or a mailbox.</p>
<p>I don’t know of any college kids - or high school kids for that matter - who cannot tell time on an analog clock. Virtually all clocks in classrooms are analog!</p>
<p>I wonder if the kid who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge on a dare was considered “smart” by his parents. That was a really dumb thing to do! :eek:</p>
<p>OP here, with a final update on the dumb thing D did (putting only a first class stamp on large envelopes for summer internships). It is official, yesterday she was offered an internship with one of our state senators (the one who got her recommendation letter that was sent separately, and called to ask her to provide the rest of her application that had never arrived…). They never asked where the rest of the application was, and now she has an internship with them. Go figure.</p>
<p>Dumb: S2 purchased a 235-lb TV on Craigslist to take to college. It took 4 men to carry the monstrosity into the dorm. It was a miracle that it fit in his room.</p>
<p>Smart: He hosts “Chick Flick Wednesdays” on the Big TV. Every Wed night, he shows chick flicks like “Mean Girls,” “Love Actually,” and “Princess Diaries.” The girls flock to his room.</p>
<p>My day was pretty terrible and I had not been to the parent cafe in a while. This thread caught my eye and I haven’t laughed so hard in a while.</p>
<p>Toss up between the girl who cut her eyelashes and or the boy who bought the cell phone and heard from g-d!
I laughed really really hard at the eyelashes-- that is very funny! Did you make that up!!!</p>
<p>I couldn’t add anything that had not already been shared in the $$, ID or traffic department-- D done it all== I still don’t get how she parks without reading those signs?!. S’s dumb things however have not been funny but painful. I have nothing to share in the forum that would make anyone laugh.</p>
<p>I’m glad these were funny-- and guessing, some us didn’t share the truly terrible “dumb” things seemingly intelligent people do that can cause lots of pain. The STDs, unwarranted pregnancies, drinking, forgetting to submit papers, not setting alarm clocks and missing finals, etc. – these are all dumb and not one ounce funny. Glad not to have read any of these. (And no-- my S hasn’t to my knowledge got anyone pregnant nor been treated for an STD)</p>
<p>S2 called us last spring to tell us that he’d made plans to go to Florida over spring break with his roommates and they’d made reservations to fly down. I asked him which airline they were using. His reply? “Amtrak”</p>
<p>Reviving this thread with a story about D2. I just picked her up from a three week science & technology camp. One minor change from when I dropped her off… she dyed her hair blue right before I picked her up. With her senior photo session scheduled in two weeks, and a fee to change the date. Argh. She has never had the smallest interest in dying her hair before. It is a beautiful auburn with gold highlights naturally – as D1 commented when I told her, “You aren’t going to find her natural color in a bottle to dye it back to normal.”</p>
<p>intparent: My niece did something similar, except she dyed her light brown hair a shocking bright red. Fortunately it was only a section of her hair, and the cover-up color from the drugstore worked surprisingly well.</p>
<p>Intparent- I always think the best pictures are those that look like the real kids!
I would think that unless she used a two step process, much of it will wash out in two weeks. She might try a shampoo for blondes if she wants to get it out.</p>
<p>I laughed really really hard at the eyelashes-- that is very funny! Did you make that up!!!
I imagine that was my post- & no I didn’t make it up. Her grandmother reportedly shaved her eyebrows once ( so she could pencil them in), so she comes from a long time of creative thinkers. ( the most I did was cut off all my hair after I had gotten a perm that I thought was too curly when I was 15, they didn’t tell me that it relaxes after a few days)</p>
<p>This thread is a riot. There is another one someplace that has funny things kids have said. That one was hilarious too, but I can’t remember the name of it.</p>
</p>
He was a teen by then!</p>
D always says yes, she has TONS of insurance cards but has a hard time remembering to actually BRING it when she will need to present it to providers. ;)</p>