Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - We're awesome!

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
3881

<p>Hi people - checking in quickly. I was gone all weekend, had a nice time, glad to hear so many of you did, too.</p>

<p>D had a hard weekend, lots of schoolwork and tech work. Had a talk with her last night about how this year has been such an intense experience of new ways of being judged and judging herself. Hoping she can continue to learn to keep things in perspective.</p>

<p>It was parents’ weekend, and I imagine that was a little bittersweet for her since I can’t come until next weekend, and she said she couldn’t do the carnival or anything anyway because of her heavy workload. But she’ll be much freer when I’m there and is looking forward to it.</p>

<p>Here at home we have a sick cat so that’s first on my agenda this morning. The dog is on my “list,” too. Why the bad animal karma all of a sudden?</p>

<p>But the sun is shining and we can enjoy the last of the foliage, anyway.</p>

3882

<p>**37 days to Thanksgiving break **</p>

<p>(Based on kids touching down at home on the Wednesday before TG. Some kids may get the full week and will land at home sooner.)</p>

3883

<p>AK- :eek: about the texting while running from bullet sound. I think I will have D embroider a pillow for your S:<br>
“What the eye doesn’t see*, the heart doesn’t grieve.”
*this includes texting.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I agree with all of you. H gets a little exasperated with D because she calls frequently- mostly to talk to me. BUT (and it is a big one), she is just sharing tidbits of funny things she has read, heard, or seen. She doesn’t yet have “intimates” in the old fashioned sense of the word- people to share what she is interested in. We hope in time it may come (it did in h.s.) but rather than rush it, she just continues to share those things with me. When she is busy with school work or her work study job, there is no pressure to reach out to us which is as it should be. We have no real knowledge of how she spends much of her time, nor how she is getting her work accomplished and at what level. We do know she likes her school very much and can’t wait to move on to focus on her concentration (what they call majors at her school).</p>

<p>While D does call often, she is pretty much in the “no bad news” sharing camp (other than complaining about petty frustrations). There was a problem on a paper that I inadvertently became aware of (D thought she had done terribly). Both she and I preferred that I be blissfully unaware but an email from a teacher was directed to our home server so I forwarded to D. Turns out it was a minor hiccup that the teacher had expected and was kind of surprised at D’s trying to fix it because it didn’t meet her standards, even before the teacher had read the paper. So it is all good. I think she is properly developing her independence but still sharing what amuses her.</p>

<p>Also, Parent’s Weekend is a plot by local merchants to increase their gross revenues-based on this past weekend’s activities. D is the proud owner of a new crockpot and a new automatic NERF gun (we declined to purchase the additional side arm). I will let you guess which item I purchased and which was purchased by H. :wink: We did have a lovely time and had lots of time to hang out with D and some time with a couple of her friends.</p>

<p>P.S. Nice to see you, BI, on my “other” parents thread. Nice folks there.</p>

3884

<p>HighHead, don’t know about floor-length ones, but I think I related the saga of our purchasing as a surprise a stunning black cocktail dress for ShawD at TJMaxx. [She loved it, ShawWife said too expensive (it was for TJMaxx but not for real world prices), but bought as a surprise, ShawD went back to store several times to see if she could find it.] ShawD finds remarkably nice-looking stuff online at Forever 21, though these are items not made to last. Ditto from my friends at H&M: [Ladies</a> | Dresses | H&M US](<a href=“http://www.hm.com/us/subdepartment/LADIES?Nr=4294960648#Nr=4294960648&N=4294966615]Ladies”>http://www.hm.com/us/subdepartment/LADIES?Nr=4294960648#Nr=4294960648&N=4294966615), although I don’t think they yet have online shopping in the US.</p>

3885

<p>Thanks, Shawbridge! I hadn’t thought about Forever 21; I’ll suggest that. I have told her that if she finds something cheap just to get through until Thanksgiving/Christmas when we can go shopping, that’s fine. With all the tours on top of the concerts, I imagine she will develop a collection of black dresses for different venues/weather conditions, so she shouldn’t be looking for the two perfect, permanent dresses at this stage. It would be nice, but something cheap that checks the box needs to be enough for right now…</p>

3886

<p>I’m back from parent weekend and we had a great time. Other than the ROTC open house it could have been any weekend, because we didn’t attend any of the events (mostly panel discussions or sporting events). Are we bad parents? We spent lots of time with DS and he was very happy to have us there. DS2 spent the night in the dorm and is enthralled with the entire college idea. He’s ready to live in a dorm and is already planning his next visit! :)</p>

<p>DS has 3 roommates. Two had parents visiting. Both of the other moms conspired together and cleaned up the common area and one was also vacuuming and doing laundry (or is that laundrey? :wink: . I guess I’m just not that kind of mom, because I think that is DS’s job now! If it’s dirty, he needs to clean it or live with it. They also rearranged stuff in the common area and hinted that DS should put something under his bed rather than in the common area (ladder from the non bunked beds). I stayed away from the entire situation! :rolleyes:</p>

<p>I brought pumpkins with candy, granola bars, etc in them for each of the roommates. Got thank yous from all of them. Hopefully that makes me :cool: </p>

<p>We finally got to eat in the dining hall. Wow! They have great food options. Lots of fresh fruit (at least 4 selections of fresh fruit they can take with them (apples, oranges, pears, bananas) then on the salad bar there were two types of melon, grapes, pineapple and strawberries. Yum! It was fun to see how they do things and my DS likes the food, although he says they sometimes have weird stuff. Chicken and waffles anyone? If anyone knows what part of the country that’s from, let me know. One of DS’s friends said the south, but we’ve lived in the south and I’ve never heard of it. DS speculates it’s a mid-west thing?? </p>

<p>As for sleep/partying my DS is firmly in the get some sleep department. That is because he has to be at ROTC for physical training M/W/F at 6:30am. That means getting up before 6am three days a week. The party nights are Thursday/Saturday. So Thursday is totally out, and DS said he’s not too interested in the parties. He has been known to stay home on a Saturday night and study. I’m hoping he finds his tribe and gets out more on the weekend to do fun things, even if it’s just to hang out with friends. I had parents of two of his friends tell me of fun things that happened, but my DS missed both. One because he was training all day with ROTC and one because he was studying. I think after mid-terms he will hopefully relax a bit and find time for fun.</p>

<p>The good news is he seems very happy and really is enjoying most of his classes. Multi-var calculus seems to be the hardest. He can understand and complete the problem sets, but evidently the quizzes are just incredibly hard. He’s working on practice quizzes so he can get the hang of them. Other classes are all good, and he’s enjoying them.</p>

<p>Did anyone see the Clemson game, or at least the highlights. I saw the highlights and that looked like an amazing game!!! Was also glad to see that UVA won! Had dinner on Sat night with some UVA alums that have a son at same school with my DS. Turns out the mother went to the same HS as my boys! They live in NC now. Truly a small world!!!</p>

<p>Glad everyone and their students are doing so well. Enjoy the sunshine and the leaf peeping!</p>

3887

<p>I have to give my sympathy to mom’s of daughter’s who have to shop for dresses at today’s stores and have them look cute but appropriate. Seriously, this must be an impossible task. I have dear friends who posted fb pix of their kids homecoming over the weekend and I was really, really shocked at how short some of the dresses were. Obviously that’s how they sell them, so to find things moderately hip but not cut up to there when they sit (or stand with some of them) has got to be very difficult!! </p>

<p>So hugs to the mom’s who have to go through this. I shall no longer complain trying to find 38L suits for my 16yo with a ‘fly’ vest that meets his approval…must be a cake walk compared to what you have to do!! I know I sound old fashioned, but really some of these dresses made me blush!!</p>

3888

<p>

</p>

<p>When I lived in Los Angeles, I had a dear friend from Lousiana and chicken and waffles were a comfort food for her- so I think it is kinda southern? There were a number of chicken and waffle places in south central Los Angeles to cater to southern “expats”.</p>

3889

<p>VAmom, we didn’t do any of that stuff either when we went. Basically we just ate all weekend long. </p>

<p>Your weekend sounds just perfect and glad your son is happy.</p>

3890

<p>Blue and HighHead - I was just out this past weekend looking for a homecoming dress for D2…the good news is that Kate Middleton is making an impact on fashion. The newer styles are getting longer and more modest! And the kids don’t like them…but too bad. It is about time.</p>

3891

<p>kinderny, where did you find the new automatic nerf gun? I see from Facebook that the nerf weapons purchased at a dollar store over the summer in Canada were in use last weekend. When we head to parents’ weekend (now called the more politically correct Family Weekend), I’d love to go pick up just such a gift.</p>

3892

<p>^^^ We got ours at Target, as delayed gratification was not what this weekend was about. :smiley: However, H found nice ones online at Amazon, too.</p>

3893

<p>Hi people, checking in after a crazy weekend.
Highhead, There is a store called Black House/White house or something like that, Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor loft sometimes have stuff but may be too old??? I love Marshalls and TJMaxx but have to search. </p>

<p>My D called Friday to say she wasn’t coming home definitely but that she was going to go down to NYC for the day with a group of kids going to Occupy Wall Street. Surprised at her new found “political Interest” I said, listen if things are starting to get out of hand, just get away…she says MOM, I am just going down with them, I am going shopping and to lunch then the MOMA with an old friend from Junior High…made me laugh! She texted me all day to comment on how awesome it was to get away and how she felt like she was “home”. Then the calls stopped. Texted her at 11 at night to see if she was back …no answer, texted a bunch on Sunday till around 1 she called and said "I got back at 7 last night. I was starting to worry, only because she texted all day then nothing!</p>

<p>Yalemom 2015…just spell checked all my words! Texted is wrong I think :slight_smile:
When I type the word restaurant, I always have to say outloud “rest ow u ront” so that I
spell it correctly!
As for British spelling, kids went to International school where majority of teachers were British or British educated so my kids have been spelling words incorrectly ( :slight_smile: ) for years!!!
FLmathmom- So glad your son has found his people! Sounds like a great Parents Weekend, glad you had a great time.
Ok I have procrastinated enough, time to go do some laundr(e)y!!!</p>

3894

<p>Vamom and FLMM: I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed your Parent’s Weekend visits. We don’t go to the organized acitivities either.</p>

<p>FLMM: It’s great that your son has found such a great fit at Olin.</p>

<p>Highhead: I was thinking of Black Market/White House as a possiblity also.</p>

<p>BI and 2ED: That UVA game looked like a lot of fun!</p>

3895

<p>I cannot help with dresses since I do not have a daughter (weep weep) and I don’t wear dresses, but I can help with light fixtures. </p>

<p>ATG stores has a long list of different stores including lighting, plumbing, linens, luggage. I purchased all of our new bedroom and bathroom lighting from them. I have also purchased a few plumbing items. They match other online prices and are extremely helpful on the phone. When I bought a fixture described as crackle, I wanted to understand what it really looked like. You could not tell from the online picture. They emailed me several close up shots. The link for the lighting is [Lighting</a>, Chandeliers, Light Fixtures, Bathroom Lighting, Lights](<a href=“http://www.lightinguniverse.com%5DLighting”>http://www.lightinguniverse.com). Happy shopping.</p>

3896

<p>I’ve always thought chicken and waffles started out as an African American “soul food” (if anyone still uses that term anymore)…although, like all tasty food, it has been adopted by a lot of others. (To the displeasure of chefs in Harlem, even IHOP!)</p>

<p>[Harlem</a> chef Carl Redding plans protest of IHOP over soul food dish chicken and waffles - New York Daily News](<a href=“http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-14/local/29445263_1_chicken-and-waffles-patrick-lenow-ihop]Harlem”>http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-14/local/29445263_1_chicken-and-waffles-patrick-lenow-ihop)</p>

3897

<p>Hi All</p>

<p>On the dress code thing…

</p>

<p>… don’t want my kids looking like pole dancers, nor dating them…
… am all for covering those parts…
yet I also don’t get the “grinding” thing and wonder what woman in her right mind would want a guy doing that to her…
seems that it would normally be considered lewed behavior/f@ndling etc…why is it that with music/alcohol that the behavior is accepted…</p>

<p>Am thankful both my kids think it is gross and don’t dance like that
…and think dressing in style doesn’t mean looking “s1utty”…</p>

<p>I have heard about this chicken and waffle thing. There have been a few times I have thought it might be a fun meal.</p>

<p>On chandeliers…have bought ours on line as well. Local stores had very disappointing inventory. <a href=“http://www.bellacor.com/[/url]”>http://www.bellacor.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And yes–YaleMom15…our student washed plenty of clothes, bedding and towels this weekend :slight_smile: So proud!! No matter how you spell it!</p>

3898

<p>Thanks Momjr, Black MARKET white house, knew it was something like that. </p>

<p>VAmom2015, I think you did exactly what you should have this weekend, spend time with your kid! I generally skip a lot of the stuff they set up for parents on the parents weekend unless my kids want to go, usually they just want to go out for steak or seafood (don’t get it much in the dining hall!) and shop for things they didn’t have and realize they needed. We did also do the roommates/parents dinner together thing, need to check and see if D wants to do that this year.
Big news at our house for the 9th grader is we bought a used laser sailboat yesterday. She is on sailing team at school and we now live two house from the beach (bay) so we splurged…not too much its 25 years old but can see its going to be tons of fun.</p>

<p>Hope everyone is having a great day, its beautiful outside in my neck of the woods.
Almost time for a virtual cocktail! Cheers!</p>

3899

<p>When we attended Parent’s Weekend, we didn’t go to the school organized events either.</p>

<p>D1 was home this weekend, in between practice and a game on Saturday. We drove to NJ yesterday for my Mom’s birthday. She didn’t know we were coming, so she was really surprised, especially since D made the trip with us.</p>

<p>D1 finished her first term, and got her grades today. She was very happy to get all A’s and B’s. Her school has a different grading policy- A, B, C, and NR. An NR is ‘no record’, which basically means that you failed, but it does not show up on your transcript at all. The kids call it "snow flaking’, since the report card is blank.</p>

<p>Being the mom of 2 girls, I can sympathize with the whole dress shopping issue. Luckily, both of my girls are relatively conservative, but it can be a challenge to get decent age appropriate clothing.</p>

3900

<p>Thanks, all! Black Market/White House looks great, and there are a couple of knee-length dresses there. D just called (she’s going into NYC this weekend and wanted advice about trains. This is not as weird as it sounds; back in the day, I used to commute daily from New Haven to Wall Street, so she knows my info. is a useful supplement to printed schedules.) and it turns out that she can borrow dresses for a while - which is good, since the first concert is on Thursday, not in two weeks! It was great to hear her voice. She seems much calmer with two mid-terms under her belt. The other two are both on
Wednesday, so that will be a wild ride, but the first two were the hardest and she got an 89 on her multi-variable calculus, which starts to give her a sense of how hard she needs to work. The best thing is that she says she isn’t stressing the way she did in high school, and she is working hard but differently, which I read as a successful transition. I think I am liking this new stage in our lives!</p>