<p>Please note I consider myself a liberal atheist.</p>
<p>• No smoking
• No drugs
• No drinking
• Pay Bills including credit cards on time
• Vote in every eligible election
• Practice Safe Sex
• Don’t be part of sexual assault.
• Watch Little TV
• Don’t borrow money from people, pay back immediately if you do.
• Don’t do stupid things to get you in trouble
• Drive carefully
• Never hit anyone
• Don’t walk alone at night outside campus
• Be aware of your surroundings
• Seek out internships, research, opportunities.
• No sex for at least a couple of months after dating somebody
• Tell truth, build confidence, no cheating
• Enjoy college
• Look for interesting things to do.
• Don’t let anyone sneak in a roofie in your drink.
• Be a gentleman, learn how to be one.
• Do all homework’s, and most extra credit.
• Study hard.
• Get good grades
• Be responsible.
• Ask for help if grades are falling or you don’t understand material.
• No Soda*
• No Coffee/Choco*
• No Chips/Fries*
• No Fast-Food*
• No Useless Internet Surfing*
• * = twice a month?
• Drink Water / Hot Water / Sparkling Water / Tea / Milk / Fresh Juice
• Workout 3 to 4 times a week
• Eat Healthy - ½ Veg, ¼ Carb, ¼ Protein
• Read Books
– Computer Science
– Business
– For fun
• Treat every woman as a princess, and with respect
• Show Appreciation colleagues / parents /friends
• Call parents once in a while
• Flexibility
• Generosity
• Call out discrimination of any kind, saying it is unacceptable.
• Make friends, be open and engaging.
• Make a diverse group of friends
• Collaborate with others
• Help others
• Be proud, don’t let anyone diminish you
• Don’t accept anyone diminishing someone else.
• Be self confident and self motivated</p>
<p>Ironic considering a large part of your list is unrealistic. Some of it is good advice, but chips/fries, fast food, and pop only twice a month or less? Probably not going to happen…</p>
<p>true, but I follow my own advice. I expect them to not follow everything, they are their own person of course. A parent can give it a shot. Please note it is advice, not rules.</p>
<p>Neither of them ever had coffee, nor do they show any interest in it. So that should be an easy one. Chocolate is a different matter. I don’t think I eat chocolate more than twice a month, but that might be difficult for them.</p>
<p>If computer science and Business are their majors I would assume they will be reading lots of textbooks on those topics - especially if they follow do all homework!</p>
<p>Although I agree with most of what you say, I think that it might be worthwhile to convey that some of the items are far more important than others. “Don’t be part of sexual assault” is more important than avoiding chocolate, for example. </p>
<p>One that I don’t see on your list that perhaps should be there is “Actually go to class.” Now that a lot of course materials are available online, many students think that class attendance is not particularly important. Yet it seems to make a difference in terms of grades and understanding of the material. </p>
<p>This is one that I always preached to my kids ever since dropping the off at kindergarten. Respect everyone you come in contact with. From the principal to the floor washer…everyone deserves respect, civility and kindness. I reminded her of this last week before I dropped her off. </p>
<p>Stay organized and semi tidy. When your surroundings are cluttered, it’s difficult to accomplish anything. She has plenty of storage units and pretty bins to keep things in order.</p>
<p>Consider getting a tutor for classes. Even the ones that they are strong in, just in case a problem arises. You may not need his/her services for very long but college classes are quite different from HS classes. </p>
<p>I read some useful advice in a parenting book that said you only need to tell your teenagers 3 rules:</p>
<p>1) Stay safe
2) Show respect
3) Keep in touch </p>
<p>So that is all I use, and they are easy for the kids to remember. Of course I don’t expect the third rule to be followed on a daily basis by a college student. I am happy with Skype once every 2 weeks. But over all, these have served us very well in high school, and most violations of rules are easy to categorize by this system. (“Which rule did you just break?”)</p>
<p>Treating every human being with respect is good practice and good advice. Treating every woman “as a princess” - well, that’s a lot of work, for one thing, and not likely to be appreciated/welcomed by every woman. Respect covers a lot of territory. </p>
<p>I can give about 20 words of advice to my kids before their eyes start to glaze over (which is 4 times more words than I get with my husband). I like LBowie’s approach better. If I gave my kids the advice in post #1, they would tune me out long before I finished. They get to make their own choices about TV, nutrition, the internet, personal relationships, etc., once they’re off to college, and many adolescents are not going to heed advice on these smaller issues, however good that advice may be.</p>
<p>Only on CC have I seen the kind of control-freakiness that this list embodies. I’m particularly amused by the no useless internet time, since these kids have grown up basically ON the internet. But the “treat every girl like a princess” is pretty offensive. Much as it pains me to quote a Disney song, “I’d rather rescue myself.” Do I want D to be treated with respect? Yes, of course. Do I want HER to treat others with respect? yes, of course. But a princess who needs someone waiting on her, idolizing her, blah, blah, blah? No thanks. That Disney song above was always one of her favorites. </p>
<p>Much of the rest is common sense, but the food restrictions are just over the top. </p>
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