Parents of the HS Class of 2012 - New beginnings

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
2961

<p>There is a mini mono epidemic on my DD’s floor. 5 kids just on her hall. She has a high school friend at another school - also with mono. She has been sick twice this semester. The first time I had to really push her to slow down and stay in bed. The second time she did that herself - although lingering laryngitis put her on vocal rest for even longer which was hard with her singing obligations.</p>

<p>Has anyone’s DCs started thinking about summer yet? DD is looking at summer stock auditions, but has not looked into any academic opportunities. She can always go back to scooping ice cream, but not her first choice.</p>

2962

<p>DS has gently been mentioning that he might want to stay in Miami and work for a business that would also employ him during the school year. :frowning: Of course, if that is what he wants to do and he can pay his expenses, then it is up to him. Of course, it would make me sad not to have him home, but he has to do what he has to do!</p>

2963

<p>Different kids handle things differently… and not everyone experiences problems on the same time schedule. For some at a given time, their kids are really doing great and are happy. My own D tends to handle things pretty well, but she’s had her frustrations with the first semester and her home two bf broke up with her recently. I know she’s still hurting from that. It was a few weeks before Thanksgiving and it wiped her out for a week or two emotionally, but I’m pleased that she’s still enjoying things at school and got back to her schoolwork after a few days of feeling really miserable. She’s clear that nothing would make her give up or sacrifice her education. She’s also found some of her classes too easy or hard and requiring a lot of work, and hasn’t aced all her tests. Right now she’s a little bit sick. To me this just feels like normal, age appropriate struggles. I hope I’d be aware if something was a true red flag, and I’m pretty sure I would be. She likes to handle things herself though, so I try to respect that, and really - despite these problems and heartaches, I feel like she really IS doing great and is often happy and busy. I know not all kids are the same and I very truly sympathize with kids who are struggling more and feeling lonelier or more worried, or really don’t like their school or their roommates etc. I also sympathize with parents who feel more worried. Sometimes I worry, too… just not much we can usually do other than sympathize, and of course support each other here.</p>

2964

<p>dwhite - so sorry about your son dealing with a break up. Such a sad feeling. </p>

<p>Hugs out to everyone with kids having a bumpy transition. :)</p>

2965

<p>Spoke with D on the phone last night she sounded so sick. I encouraged her to go to the Doctor this week but she is so busy with reviews and finals prep… She agreed to take some nyquil and go to bed early last night. At this point sleep is probably the best thing for her (at least I hope) Looks like I will be getting a very sick D home next week. </p>

<p>Any way </p>

<p>GOOD LUCK to all the 2016 CC kids on their finals!</p>

2966

<p>rusedhmom - sorry your D is sick, this is a rough time to be sick.</p>

<p>Good luck to all the kids on finals!</p>

2967

<p>Thanks Dwhite spoke to her a while ago and she is doing a little better today. She has a free evening tonight so is hanging in her dorm room to rest and study… </p>

<p>And sorry for your son… hope his heart will mend quickly.</p>

2968

<p>I really like kathieh1’s post #2963. My daughter is probably more of a complainer than kathie’s, but the situation is fundamentally similar. This first semester she’s broken up with high school bf, suffered mono+strep and had ups and downs academically, slowly finding her balance in the new world of college. Sometimes she’s called us, woebegone over one issue or another, and other times feeling great, and my mood has been affected accordingly. But overall I think she’s been experiencing “normal” college freshman issues, and DH and I are trying to be somewhat detached and grateful that overall, we think she’s reasonably happy and successful, although she doesn’t always see it that way, from day to day.</p>

2969

<p>My neighbor and I walked the dogs this morning…she thought maybe General Mom had reformed…but NOOOOOO.</p>

<p>Her son called her last night Apparently the RA had received an email, ostensibly from the roomie, stating that he did not want my neighbor’s son to have any friends in the room at all, that he wanted him to be in the room and ready for sleep by 10:30, or not to come back, and that the TV was never to be turned on, for the rest of the semester.
Except that in the middle of the email, instead of saying " I need privacy and quiet to study and sleep" …it said “my son needs…”</p>

<p>And apparently it was not sent from roomie’s email account either.</p>

<p>Apparently the two boys co-exist without much more of a relationship than that. The boys are in an honors dorm/program. My neighbor says her son is doing very well this semester, his grades are even higher than when he was in high school…he has made a group of friends from a study group in his economics class and they do a lot together. He has played some intramural sports with a couple of teams in the dorm and is involved in some clubs/social service type things–in other words, he’s engaged in a normal college life.</p>

<p>My neighbor was saying the roomie doesn’t seem to do anything other than study. Other than for classes and meals, he never seems to leave the room unless he needs to go to the library. Her son told her that he talks to his parents frequently, and that they seem to harangue him constantly. He has no idea of how the roomie is doing academically.</p>

<p>My neighbor is “threatening” to send an email of her own, demanding that the roomie leave the room during certain prime hours so that HER son can have time in the room to relax and decompress from all the academic stress…(obviously, she’s joking…) but she does fantasize as to the response from roomie’s mom…</p>

<p>I wonder if the roomie will try to get a single for next semester? I actually feel sorry for both boys. The neighbor’s son is a great kid, friendly, out going, smart, social…and smart and academically focused. I get the feeling the roomie has been instructed by his family to not make friends with his roommate, and further instructed to do nothing but study…and he is missing so much of the life education in college. And my neighbor’s son could end up with a much more problematic roommate, for sure.</p>

2970

<p>boysx3, you just made my night! I have thought about General Mom often.</p>

2971

<p>I love General Mom stories…they make me feel so righteous and virtuous and great-mom :)</p>

2972

<p>My neighbor and I have so much fun thinking of vindictive retaliations on our walks…that mom is just so out of line !!!.. but being the adults in the situation we realize that it’s not the poor kid’s doing. That poor kid must be mortified by his mom and her constant interference.</p>

<p>I’m just glad that my neighbor’s son is still having a relatively good college experience…he just sort of goes along living his own life, trying not to be an overly obnoxious roomie himself but apparently not walking General Mom’s line either. I think he is able to do pretty much what he wants because roomie is as passive with him as with his mother.</p>

2973

<p>Thanks for the General Mom update. The main one I really feel sorry for is her son… not only is he missing out on life, he won’t know any other way to parent when he’s in that position. I wonder what his future wife will think… or maybe General Mom will arrange that part for him.</p>

<p>I am glad your neighbor’s son is going about having a normal life. The typo in the e-mail was cute. The RA should send it back to mama highlighted… and tell her to butt out. I suppose that can’t happen though. I wonder if it could be sent to the counseling center shortly before the son.</p>

<p>Middle son called us on Sunday. Unfortunately, he tripped down some stairs and had quite the swollen ankle. He told us about it by saying, “I’m starting to get some return on the Health Services fee…” That was cute.</p>

<p>Our visit over Thanksgiving definitely took away some of his study time. He only got a 77 on the Chem test that following week (said it was still above average, but low for his study group). Fortunately, they get to drop their lowest grade, so it won’t affect him and it could have a good side effect by letting him know he does need to study. His previous grades may have been making him feel like he didn’t really need to.</p>

<p>The “mom” part of me feels guilty at disrupting his schedule for studying though - even though it doesn’t matter. I suppose that comes with the job.</p>

<p>BTW three weeks from today is Christmas. I think I need to start shopping soon!</p>

2974

<p>boysx3 – The typo in General Mom’s missive is too funny!</p>

<p>My D1 had a rough couple of days writing what I suspect will be her last-ever graded lit-analysis-type paper. She is perfectly capable of producing quality writing, but hates the process so much that she procrastinates – and in this case she procrastinated too long. A couple of hours before the paper deadline I received an anguished text saying that she still hadn’t addressed 1/3 of her thesis, and asking whether she should contact the prof for an extension. I replied no, there’s no point in prolonging the misery, and she should just wrap up what she’s got and turn it in. </p>

<p>… and then I waited … anxiously.</p>

<p>Around 9pm she texted D2, joyously, that she was DONE with English class FOREVER!</p>

<p>Whew! She still has a couple of breadth requirements, but I suspect that she’ll be looking to fulfill them with classes that don’t require essays!</p>

2975

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<p>LOL! I like this kid. :)</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about mono and crazy Rm parents. I feel so sorry for that poor kid with the crazy mother. :(</p>

2976

<p>michal1…our D has added a double major in English, she can’t stand not taking English all the time! She might take a calculus class for “fun”, but overall is done with math.</p>

<p>I guess we should celebrate the uniqueness of each kid!</p>

2977

<p>Hey all, I’ve been absent too much lately! My kid was one who didn’t make it home for Thanksgiving break but will be here late next week for a month. </p>

<p>For the spring semester, she’s taking:

  • Intro to Int’l Relations (a requirement for her Int’l Studies major)
  • Intro to the Study of Japan (a requirement for her Japan Studies major)
  • Her 2nd required freshman seminar. (she chose one called “Feasting and Fasting in the Ancient World” though possibly because some of the other available choices sounded to me like some she would’ve tried to avoid!)
  • A continuation of her current Japanese language class (fulfilling a language requirement for both her majors)
  • 2 Health/Wellness classes (swimming and pilates) of the 3 required for graduation.</p>

<p>If you didn’t remember, yeah, she’s not a STEM major! She’s still on track to spend a couple of months next summer in Hanoi and we’ll discuss a lot more about all that at Christmas break. She’s been enjoying the college experience so far but I already knew she’d love it!</p>

2978

<p>Well it is one week from now that I will pick up DS for a month. I am wondering what it will be like with him around on a daily basis. I expect that my large television will be running nonstop with video games. Still, I expect it will be nice to have a house full of kids as they all come back home.</p>

2979

<p>I think it must be getting on towards finals at my son’s school. They seem to be having lots of study breaks! He and a friend made apple pie and ice cream (my son has an ice cream maker at college) for a weekend study break. And tonight their RA is making caffeine cupcakes for everyone (with some sort of coffee filling). He’s busily working on another draft of his big art history project. I’m very pleased that my wannabe physics/engineer major kid is enjoying his American history and art history courses so much!</p>

2980

<p>My daughter is POd that her friends who started later are done earlier in the semester (they’re on trimesters, duh). I reminded her that they will likely be in school til mid to late June. How can she complain? It’s sunny and 75 where she is and she just got three, count ‘em, three packages in the mail from good ol’ Mom.</p>