Is it just recency non-bias or has this board gotten less active over the years? Reading through some of the 2010s into even Covid era threads gives me the sense that there were a lot more people involved in a much higher frequency here.
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This thread was the equivalent of the town pub for prep school parents and was quite lively in the early years after @SevenDad opened the doors. It lost traction with the ebb and flow of posters whose time at boarding school came and went. If you go back to the beginning and read for a while, you’ll see that @SevenDad started it as a place to talk about anything BUT the serious side of BS. (I especially enjoyed the period when we were discussing our gorgeous feathered hair and platform shoes in HS. @SevenDad prefers to discuss music. We also like to talk cocktails.)
Just as a refresher for those new to Miscellaneous Life Ramblings:
If anyone is unsure if this thread is the correct place to post, just ask this question: “Do I want my post to be taken seriously?” If the answer is “yes,” please start a new thread. If the answer is, “I certainly hope not,” then post away.
*Some comments about BS do belong here. For instance (from the archives):
- What’s the point of BS if the school expects you pick the kid up when school ends? What am I supposed to do with him for the summer?
- DH is currently away for a while contemplating his role in the recent financial meltdown. As you can imagine, this inconvenience has temporarily affected our cash flow. How do we discreetly request financial aid for Biff’s senior year?
- How morally bankrupt does one have to be to pay for laundry service at BS?
- How morally superior is my kid for doing his own laundry? Does s/he get extra points for owning an iron (even if it’s being used as a panini press)?
You get the gist.
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Wait can you actually use an iron as a panini press that might be going in the notes if that’s a real thing, I see no reason why it wouldn’t work
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Absolutely. You can also use your laptop as an umbrella, your umbrella as a lightsaber, and your dress blazer as a makeshift levee. BS kids are the mothers of invention.*
*Veiled music reference sure to catch @SevenDad’s attention.
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I think you all might be my people. Which is good. Because I’m starting to freak out and I don’t want to freak out on the teenager thread.
The reality of what my child is trying to do is sinking in and I’m fairly certain I will need some humor to help me through the next month. And hopefully, beyond.
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I sure wish I had been on this thread when my son was at BS (HS class of 2020, yep the pandemic non graduation)
So many funny and not so humorous moments. So many lessons learned.
Just when you think your HS age kid is so wise and responsible, they do something to remind you that they are only 17.
My son packed up and shipped home some boxes at end of term one year…and packed wet towels from his bathroom. Then of course the boxes sat at home unpacked for weeks until I noticed the smell. Honestly, I was afraid something had died in there. 
He is now all grown up, about to graduate from a music conservatory. He knows how to do laundry, iron (even a tux shirt) and cooks well. He still does not like a flat sheet on his bed. I told him no one will ever marry you if you only use the bottom sheet. 
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I finally unpacked some of college freshman’s boxes from BS today because the kid has been asking me to find Dance Concert DVDs. They were wrapped inside a poncho and a blanket along with a bunch of pottery.
There was also an empty bottle and an empty Swedish Fish bag in the same box.
I’m beginning to think maybe I should give up on the kid actually dealing with their stuff.
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Well, speaking of BS boxes… I once discovered that our son never even took the tags off the three lovely pair of iconic preppy shorts I bought him for freshman year at Choate. How did I make this tragic discovery? I found them wadded up in a box marked “High School Crap” while helping him pack for his move to his first Army duty station. His explanation? “Really, mom? Whales? Lobsters? Sailboats? Those were just too ridiculous to wear” — he said while carefully folding his SpongeBob beach towel and placing it in a box with his brigade of plastic Army men for shipping off to Ft. Gordon.
If the U.S. Army couldn’t do this for our son, you get a huge pass from me, @stalecookies.
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You will need cocktails, @cheerfulmom, plenty of cocktails (humor will follow). Just search for “cocktails” in this thread for suggestions from the many who’ve gone before you.
Cheers! 
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Ahhh good times, good times.
Glad to see the thread revived. I can’t believe that my final two are graduating this year and I’ll be a BS parent no more.
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Since DS and I entered the same year, I can tell you that the shorts were out of style that decade, despite what Vineyard Vines wanted you to think 
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@Calliemomofgirls As you know (but not anyone else here), my DD decided to prolong BS by a year….so, I get to stay in the game.
Meanwhile, @ChoatieMom , my DS graduated WPI early and has been working in PA at an internship in his field before he goes off to get his Masters in Europe. Where has the time gone???
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Great to see you @buuzn03 and @Calliemomofgirls! I knew once the lights were back on here, some of the oldtimers would wander in. Congrats to buuuznson/daughter and Calliegirls! Time DOES fly. Is Calliefamily waiting anxiously on college decisions?
ChoatieKid is married and a captain now. They’re living in the Annapolis area while he plays Secret Squirrel at Cyber Joint Forces (Ft. Meade), but we’ll all be heading out to Atlanta in May for his GT graduation (CS master’s/4.0), then he starts apps for a PhD in either computer science/engineering or AI. He’s received an appointment to research and teach at the Cyber Research Center at West Point, so he’ll be running out his Army career back at the gray prison earning that pension and able to start a second career before 40. He turned 28 this past weekend. I’ve been here since he was 14. Yeah, time…
(Looks in mirror and now wonders if the pearls and twinset might be a bit much..)
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Unless you’re Bree Van de Camp, yes. 
Had to look that up. I’m more June Cleaver.
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It’s hard to imagine you vacuuming in a flare skirt dress and heels.
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@buuzn03 – who knew 5 years ago that we would become friends in real life? love love love it! And I love the path your kids have both taken!
@ChoatieMom MARRIED? I can hardly believe it. life moves fast, doesn’t it?
Our updates: Yes, DD3 and DD4 are in the midst of the college decision season, and enjoying their final year in BS. DD3 is planning on aerospace engineering and DD4 is planning on a humanities focus – some combo of linguistics/anthropology/gender studies, depending on the school and program. (You might remember that DD4 did her junior year abroad in France with SYA – turned out to be an AMAZING decision!). DD2 is now a freshman studying business at Marshall at USC (California). DD3 and DD4 were both admitted to USC (but different schools: Viterbi engineering and Dornsife arts & science), so we may have 3 there next year. DD4 was just admitted to Berkeley, and if I had to guess she might leaning that way though. But still-- 3 of 4 kids back on west coast after east coast BS would be amazing. Irony: I came back east to get an MFA (3 year program) so I’ve been in NYC during school years. ha! Mom-goes-to-boarding-school. :). DD1 (dancer, so never went to boarding school) is a junior at UNCG MT BFA, but spent last semester with us in NYC doing a program called “Professional Semester” at the Broadway Dance Center. She lived her best life auditioning and dancing nonstop for 5 months. She can’t wait to graduate next year and move back to NYC.
I hope others will jump in with their updates. it’s kind of a bittersweet visit down memory lane! xo to all!
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So the vacuum is a prop and you twitch your nose?
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Could any of us understand why she insisted on doing things the boring way?