<p>The biggest change for my DD was her ability to become a leader. She was a kid who “flew under the radar screen” in high school, and was not in the “popular crowd” who held all the leadership positions. In college, she has taken the opportunity to sell herself and undertake some rewarding leadership positions in her college and her dorm. In high school, she would not have moved forward with these things because she would have simply stepped aside so the other kids (who always did them) could continue to do them. She has…well…become less of a doormat.</p>
<p>D has learned to procrastinate less. She is better at cleaning up after herself (no Mom to take care of it!). She is handling her problems by herself. She even asked a prof for help … a HUGE step for her! She hasn’t asked for spending money … a huge relief for US!! </p>
<p>She is quite shy, and I am happy to note that she is involved in on-campus activities. However, she is still a bit uncertain about reaching out beyond her own social circle. I do expect that she will learn to feel more comfortable in this area as she matures. After all, it took Mom awhile to get to that point! :)</p>
<p>The biggest change has been in her career aspirations. She finally sat down to think about what she wants to do in life. She has moved beyond what she thinks others expect to what she “wants.” While she is very good at math & science, she simply doesn’t like them. She has found that she really enjoys psych, sociology, poli sci, etc. She is even planning to take business classes. These are things she would have scoffed at in the past. Her career plans have changed so much. I am proud of her for looking inside herself & deciding to go with her heart. She may well change her mind a time or two about what she actually wants to do, and that’s fine. The point is, she has learned to live for herself. A year ago, she was more worried about being something she thought others thought she should be!</p>
<p>No progress on the financial front , she’s still pretty dang clueless but hey …I can live with a little of that given our particular circumstances. Socially, great strides. Health and fitness? Not so good. Will abuse herself for study/work. Still needs a more mature attitude on the whole “Balanced Life” thing. </p>
<p>Academically - big leap forward on written communication skills, both technically and (heaven forbid)…S<em>T</em>Y<em>L</em>E. Academic confidence? Still there in spades.</p>
<p>So all in all, she’s found a group of similarly charged individuals, her “people”- hard chargers, academically aggressive (to the material), envelope stretchers who are also socially acceptable and reasonably popular on campus. They stay very busy socially and are still racking up the accomplishments and accolades. </p>
<p>Much better than having 3 people to have a serious discussion with at her high school. </p>
<p>She still needs to bake a little longer before she’s done but…her world is good.</p>
<p>I am so happy to hear the way so many of your kids are blossoming in college! </p>
<p>“So glad things are going well for s#2, NSM. Any chance s#1 will “see the light”? Hope so.”</p>
<p>Thanks for asking. I’m happy to say that older S, who flunked out of college, in 2002 and lived a party lifestyle for a while, has been holding the same lower level job with a large corporation for a year and a half. While he has not decided to return to college, he does seem to be living a much more settled life than when he was focusing solely on becoming a punk rocker. He seems to be coming into his own, and that’s a relief to me.</p>