Perhaps, It wasn't them- it was YOU!

13bingo13
Mon, 23 Mar 2015 19:24:12 +0000

My daughter came home from Arts summer camp (on the campus of an Arts Boarding School) after 7th grade and said “I’m going to a musical theater Boarding School and I am going to get a scholarship to go there”. We went along thinking no way would that happen because I thought you had to be poor to get a scholarship at that level. (And at the time, I was not about to let my baby leave me.) We are middle class and could never afford the tuition (around 53K at the time) also knowing we had three kids that would be in college at once and one following behind . Well, she researched schools, filled out everything except the money part and gave us the application for 3 schools. We signed it and she actually got into all three schools with scholarships. (They could probably tell she filled out everything.) Well, even with the offer we could not afford it and figured maybe senior year we could make up the difference and send her. Well after freshman year at the local public high school, she tried again and this time the same thing happened but one school (our favorite) gave us enough money to swing it. (We told her we could handle around the same tuition as the local Catholic school). Anyway, fast forward to Unifieds, the school takes the seniors instead of parents, in fact, parents are not allowed to go. My daughter has been independent since as long as I can remember. We have learned to just listen and not suggest things because she wants to do it. Some kids are like that. My two oldest boys actually go to a University in my town, one lives at home and one near campus. My youngest gets nervous when I’m gone for a night. My theatre kid, she has always insisted on doing everything on her own. We have a really great relationship and are close and honestly, she said she is glad I “stay in the car and hotel” when I go with her and she wants to be the one to ask the questions. That’s okay. And its okay that everyone has their own opinions and does whats best for their families. And, yes when you have several children, and or parents that need care, sometimes you can’t do more than let them do it themselves, whether they let you or not. And sometimes, we choose to stay out of things and let them find their own way. Thats okay too. WE ARE ALL JUST DOING THE BEST WE CAN.