<p>Our S is a h.s. junior. He hopes to get into a university with a good film production program and get an ROTC scholarship to pay for it. Here are his plans for this summer:</p>
<p>church camp - 1 wk.
mission trip to Russia - 1 1/2 wks. (+ jet lag time?)
staff at Civil Air Patrol encampment - 1 wk.
YMCA Conference on National Affairs - 1 1/2 wks.
intern with public access cable t.v. channel - 2 wks. (local)
make 5 minute short film - ~1 wk + editing in “free” time
make 20 minute short film which includes an out-of-town location, costumes, and special props - 2 wks. + editing (maybe an underestimate of time due to preparation required)</p>
<p>So that’s a total of 10 weeks or a bit more that he has completely booked solid out of about 12 weeks with no school. As a parent, do you step in and say “no…you have to drop something” or do you let him go for it and very possibly fail (most probably he’ll fail to complete the 20 minute film)?</p>
<p>I couldn’t resist your thread title -it’s my son! Although your son’s summer plans make mine look like a slacker.</p>
<p>Have you sat down with him with a calendar and asked him to plot out his summer schedule? It is hard to imagine everything moving like clockwork- especially the 20 minute film. Is he just filming and editing, or is he also organizing the whole enterprise - directing and producing as well. This would make a difference.</p>
<p>This schedule would worry me, and I would certainly point out my concerns and ask him to demonstrate how it will all “happen.” I must admit, however, that I have rarely been successful in convincing my kid that he has taken on too much. Somehow, he manages to pull it off while making me look like a worry-wort. What is your son’s track record on coming through on his committments and how level-headed and realistic is he? I have learned to trust my son at this point, but that’s because he’s proven that he knows his capabilities and limitations. You know your kid. </p>
<p>If any of these activities rely on him to succeed - such as the longer film, I would remind him that they are counting on him to be fully engaged. He wouldn’t want to let them down. Depending on the time frame, he may be able to drop something if he finds that the film is taking up more time than expected - could he let go of something down the line without creating problems for others? If so, that might be a good way to think about it.</p>
<p>I would do neither initially, but rather talk everything over including possible downsides, “what is the worst that could happen”, etc.</p>
<p>Part of what I would want to consider is how important the films are for his college admissions chances (I don’t know anything about film). If these are going to be critical to his chances, then I would look long and hard at some of the other plans. For example, I would think (having a son who has an ROTC scholarship) that the “Civil Air Patrol” and the “YMCA” ideas would fall into the category of “nice but not essential”. JMO. The film work, though, may be central to his entire proposed college plan. If those films absolutely have to get done, and done well, for college, then I’d have to be rock solid sure that he could get them done before I’d commit to CAP or YMCA.</p>
<p>Once I was satisfied that he reasonably could accomplish everything, I would let him try. If I was unsure, if it seemed close or questionable, I probably would give him the benefit of the doubt. But if he could not reasonably persuade me that his plans are doable, then I would insist that he drop something.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that the major isn’t so important for an Army ROTC scholarship. Our older son has an Air Force ROTC scholarship, and those are primarily awarded to students pursuing technical degrees (although they do reserve some of the scholarships to award with “no strings attached” as far as majors go). </p>
<p>I contacted a military science professor at Florida State (one of the schools to which S will apply) and he said S absolutely would be eligible.</p>
<p>Recuiting films? Not too likely. I think the military probably contracts most of that stuff out to civilian firms. Also, in my experience (dh was active duty Army for 5 years and has been in the Nat’l Guard for 20 years), the military doesn’t do a lot of matching skills with positions. If you are a doctor or an architect, of course you would be assigned to a position where you’d use those skills. Ditto if you have an undergrad engineering degree. Everyone else kind of gets thrown into group. You request the branch in which you’d like to serve and you will usually get assigned there. Then, you are just a 2nd Lieutenant like every other 2nd Lt. </p>
<p>S would likely not be pursuing a military career (although he loves the military) but would serve 4 years to repay his obligation then leave the service. During that time he would have a steady paycheck and could work on his filmmaking during his time off (they get 4 weeks leave per year). He is also looking into the possibility of fulfilling his obligation in the Reserves, but we haven’t yet been able to find out if he can do that.</p>
<p>This will be a win/win for S, as he wants to serve his country and has really enjoyed his involvement with Civil Air Patrol, so I know he’ll enjoy the whole military thing, too. Also, there aren’t too many other ways you can pay off an expensive 4-year education 4 years after graduation (while getting a decent paycheck!)</p>
<p>Timely, in terms of time management, I have a child like this. Things got really worrisome for me when we were going somewhere together last year, she was driving, and she explained to me that she got into the habit of using her left foot to apply the brakes “because it helps me stay awake during driving”. </p>
<p>Like what ASAP posted, basically, it has never done any good for me to interject an opinion about cramming entirely too many activities and commitments into a day, or into a semester. It just falls on deaf ears or worse, seems to provoke her into adding even more stuff on to what seems like an already impossible schedule. Therefore, I have simply allowed things to run their course without comment (what choice is there really?), and, she has learned at least a little bit about limitations such as the need for sleep, rest, allowing some room in scheduling for unplanned circumstances (a class runs over, a paper takes a bit longer to write than what she originally budgeted, the boss needs her to work late, etc.). She still way overcommits in my opinion, but, I see no other way for her to learn this lesson. </p>
<p>Hopefully your son learns time management competency a LOT faster than my daughter. But I also agree that you don’t know what he can do until you let him try - and - he might accomplish it all in record time and with outstanding results, plus still have room to do more. His overall goals seem very well considered, too, and I think that’s important - the fact that he has clear goals and appears to have been committed to them for some time will go a long way toward providing the psychological energy he’ll need to accomplish an ambitious schedule.</p>
<p>My daughter has always used the summer weeks to learn things that SHE wants to learn. One summer she was away from home for 7 weeks. 4 weeks at a French immersion camp (earning herself a year of high school credit) and three weeks taking a NIAHD history class at W&M. She thinks of this time as fun. She NEEDS this time to learn what she wants to learn not what she has to learn for school. I think that all of her AP classes at school are for school, for the colleges, for her parents. Summer learning is all for her.</p>
<p>timely, I think (with ROTC) when you take the oath and sign the papers committing yourself to service, 4 years active duty followed by 4 years reserve duty is required. At least that is how is works with NROTC. I would be surprised if Army is different.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s how it is in the AF, too. Our older S is on an AFROTC scholarship. I seem to remember hearing somewhere that Army had the reserve only option, but I could have imagined it. Wouldn’t be the first time!</p>
<p>He doesn’t have to make the film; he just wants to. He just loves filmmaking. He’s been working on his screenplay for months (I have to tell him to knock it off and get busy on his chemistry), and can’t wait to make it happen. It can’t hurt his college admission chances (unless he flunks chemistry), but that’s not why he’s doing it. </p>
<p>The good thing is that we don’t need to worry about him letting anyone else down or anything like that. It’s his baby. He’ll find actors, beg his friends to crew for him, convince property owners to let him shoot there, prepare shot lists, rent equipment, schedule rehearsals and shooting days, direct, film, and edit it. I’ll get stuck on costumes, props, and feeding everybody, and his dad always ends up doing some miscellaneous stuff. So, if he can’t get it done, we will be frustrated at having our time (and money) wasted, but otherwise there is no harm done.</p>
<p>We learned one lesson last year the hard way. S didn’t finish a project he was filming in August (through no fault of his own), so he continued it into the school year. Big mistake. It got him off to a bad start in his classes because he was spending all his outside of class time on film stuff. We have told him that won’t happen again this year.</p>
<p>I guess you guys are right that we need to just stand back and let him see what he can do. If he doesn’t get the film done, he’ll be disappointed, and that’s that. As for him learning from his mistake of overcommitting himself, I am not optimistic. His dad is 50, and he hasn’t learned yet.</p>