<p>I live in the same town as my college roommate from the mid-70s. We lived in a fraternity at a big state U and did our share of stunts, etc. Our oldest sons are roughly the same age and are friends. He tells his son quite a bit about those days. I have told my son very little about my college extra-curricular activities. Frankly, he doesn’t need to know about all that stuff. My son is hearing the old stories from my roommate’s son, even though they attend school in different states. Damn that IM stuff!</p>
<p>Now what do I do? My old roommate and I are close friends and still have a lot in common, do the same things, etc. How do I tell him to keep his mouth shut? Can I?</p>
<p>Can you? Sure. But I don’t think it will accomplish anything – think about it, you want to tell him what he can tell his own son?? If you want to raise your concerns rather than telling him to keep his mouth shut, you could have more success. Otherwise I think you have to grin and bear it, and just tell your son that while you may have done some wild things in the past, you’ve grown up since then, times are different now, etc.</p>
<p>ROFL
I don’t know what sort of personality your son has- is he liable to get ideas from this or is he going to take it as precautionary tale?
Frankly, I have seen several students rebel against their parents by becoming much more conservative than their parents would ever expect.</p>
<p>I also don’t know what style of parenting you have, it may serve to make you more “human” to your son, and might even listen to you more, if you have mistakes you can confess to</p>
<p>My daughter who is attending a high school where the new principal is really cracking down on some behaviors that other principals have let slide for a while and many students resent him for that.
He is an alum of the school, and I recently was talking to a woman who is a retired vice principal of the same school, and says he was in her office “all the time” for behavior issues.
I thought that was hilarious, and I think it gave my daughter more perspective re the principal, cause he just doesn’t want the kids to be making the same mistakes to get off track like he did( he obviously got back on track , but I think he wants to save the students the aggravation)</p>
<p>I was fairly wild in the 70s. While not going out of my way to glorify that, I have also not particularly tried to hide that from my son. And even if I had, he knows that Bush used cocaine and Clinton didn’t inhale, so it isn’t like I could convince him that things like that necessarily ruin one’s life. Somehow, he has managed to turn out pretty cautious and conservative.</p>
<p>My son goes to MIT, where I went. During my college days, there were very few women on campus and those of us who actually dated more than one MIT man were known by name to many people whom we didn’t know personally.</p>
<p>My poor son had someone ask, on seeing his middle name on a form (my last name), “are you related to ____?” That was bad enough. What was worse was when it had happened three or four times and he called me to ask about it. And found out that I had gone out with one of his professors. Once. Only once. After all, the guy was a complete geek.</p>
<p>My dd may wind up at my alma mater. My H told me that since the dorms are co-ed now, we should just make sure my name isn’t on any bathroom stalls in the previously all-male dorm across from my old all- female one!
Funny, my H is.</p>
<p>I go to the same university my parents went to. Aparantly my dad did some wild(ish) things. I would not have the guts to do the things he did (or maybe i have more sense). It seems kids got away with more in those days. Pranks were taken as pranks. Now i think police usually get involved.</p>
<p>All in all i dont think it matters. I know my parents were not perfect teenagers/young adults. They dont expect me to be perfect. It could make you seem more human and more interesting to your kid :)</p>