I hope your D is feeling better soon! So awful!
On a lighter note … if you haven’t read “Dairy of a Wimpy Kid - The Long Haul” you must do so! It is a book aimed at elementary schoolers, so it is a fast read. The book is about the family road trip, and the scene where the Dad has to do the big conference call from the family road trip car is possibly the funniest scene in any book ever. We did a lot of road trips over the years, and this book found a way to make all of our worst moments funny.
Love this. And everyone can participate regardless of physical abilities. (My husband is disabled, so most active things leave him out, unfortunately.)
Healing wishes to all who are ailing right now!
Yup. “Appointment television.” I miss it too, though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also appreciate a good series binge.
We’ve been fortunate to have traveled quite a bit as a family, and this jumped out at me. Kids can be the most remarkable observers! Our trips were made all the richer by this sort of thing. It’s one thing to make a plan and share some place or experience that everyone enjoys. But the little unexpected, unplanned happenstance moments along the way where our kids took the lead: priceless.
Same here, and all three (probably in a big part due to luck) will talk to me for hours sometimes. My boys call and talk to me about what’s going on. My oldest in particular will text me, “Can I ask you a deep/serious/strange question?” It usually turns out to be something related to relationships or job/career, but there was also the time his girlfriend thought she was pregnant and via phone I accompanied them on their day of visiting three clinics for serum pregnancy tests (she was in a panic). Spoiler: not pregnant. He was an RA and is now a Res Life Supervisor and I hear lots of stories about handling drunk residents and other fun.
I’m so happy they are still close.
Oh can I relate. DH here was either asleep (preferable!) or messing with the music non-stop and playing it SO LOUD. The rest of us are just like, dude, turn it down and please just let it be. Oh, or complaining that he can’t hear the kids talking in the back. Hmmm … wonder why.
That sounds so wonderful to me. I was just not good about this myself–I like getting together in person with my family, but was never good about calls and such. I’d talk if I was called, but just never really initiated much. I used to joke that once plans with essentially unlimited long distance minutes rolled out, I really got exposed . . . .
So I have my fingers crossed that S24 will be a little different. Not so sure about D30, though–I sense a kindred spirit, in that she strikes me as more likely to go exploring the world without a lot of looking back.
Small stuff, when our son was 3 we were riding at top and front seat of a double decker in London going past 10 Downing and he was excited to see a backhoe right next to it.
I second the worry about goofballs! And I don’t exempt my daughter from the charge. The strange thing is that her friends have all developed schedules that require independence and responsibility–massive performing arts commitments, real jobs, self-directed academic work. However, they feel that they missed out on high school because they go to a small arts school that is 70% or more female. For most of them (except if they are lesbian), there is no one to date, and even there it might be too much of a creepy sibling vibe. Their graduating class is fewer than 80 people! As a result, they are all ready to bust out of that social scene. I’m kind of worried about them (especially the young women) when they reach the college scene. I am going to be very annoying in the ways I remind my daughter of the perils of drunkenness and/or strangers-acquaintances in the next six months!
In addition to the ones you’ve already mentioned, I like the College Admissions Podcast with John Durante. Each week he interviews an admissions officer from a different college, pretty much asking the same questions each time. It’s not a podcast to listen to every week, but I used it to learn about specific colleges my kid is interested in.
There is also something wonderful to be said for that - you raised her confident and sure of herself with an adventurous spirit!
Shout out to the small schools! D24’s class is 56. (Doesn’t seem to stop them from dating though?)
Not going to lie, I’ve let all of my kids drink at home under my supervision before they left for college - only them, not with friends or anything. I wanted to make sure they knew what it would feel like and how impaired they would be. (S19 already had plenty of experience I’m sure.) And I think her brothers have hammered into her head anything she needs to know about how dangerous/predatory the opposite (or same!) sex can be.
From a very early age, we have noted we are just hoping, for all our sakes, she will end up the benevolent sort of dictator.
But yes, it is the eternal problem–you put all this effort into raising these kids to be successful independent adults, and then they repay you by no longer needing you. How dare they!
I won’t say these have been S24’s favorite conversations, but I also thought it was important he understood this issue, not only to understand how not to be someone like that himself, but also to take some responsibility for making sure the people around him, including his friends and such, were not being like that either. And in one way or another, it is going to be a bigger issue for all of them, and so I think getting them thinking about it in advance constructively, and not just reactively, is a very good idea.
D24’s graduating class is 28. There’s been zero dating so I’m right there with ya.
Holy cow small! For some reason I pictured your daughter at a larger school, no idea why.
Some of the topics are making me very nostalgic. The road trips, the family movie nights, the board games nights etc. - so many treasured moments together. DC24 is our only, so I am feeling the passage of time acutely. Occasionally, I look at the baby/toddler pics and can’t believe how time passed by so quickly. I don’t know how the next few years will unfold for all of us but I hope we can continue some of our cherished traditions and create new ones together.
Can relate! We have Droid twins, so we say they’re our two and only.
Ditto with my only; she insisted on a lot of Scrabble games this holiday so i guess she is feeling it a little too 
DS24 is our only child also and I get nostalgic very frequently these days and go back and look at pics and stuff. Seems like he was a baby not so long ago. It will be a big change for us once he is in college.
I’m going to be a mess. Our home is so empty when my boy goes on weekend trips for school. I know we have to let him go and be strong, but it’s easier said than done. We did our job, so now’s it’s time to let him fly.
Listen to FutureU podcast- Jeff Selingo (Who Gets In and Why?) and Michael Horn. I find it really fascinating because they take a deeper dive inside higher ed. to look at trends, history and the impact of various situations (the economy, Supreme Court rulings, artificial intelligence, etc.) on higher ed. Jeff Selingo also has an interesting newsletter (monthly, I think) and has higher ed focused webinars.