I haven’t had checks for about 4 years now. Works fine by me! 
@cameo43 D1 mailed internship applications and resumes without putting on extra postage (a few years ago now). She STILL got a prestigious internship even though her stuff arrived with postage due! It never occurred to me that she didn’t know that you need to pay extra postage for heavier items. And D2 was quite vague about how to address an envelope and where the stamp goes. Yes, she wrote thank you notes, but I told her line by line how to address them, and she never retained it.
@TheGreyKing I didn’t know how to fry an egg until I was 50 (not kidding). For that matter, I tied my shoes wrong until about then, too. So maybe the idea is that they will continue to learn new stuff forever. I guess they don’t need to know everything before they start college (which I figured out after they left for college). Heck, we want them to still have a few things to call us for advice on in the future. 
@intparent — Good point! Although right now I am chuckling at the “how to tie a tie” tutorial my husband is giving my son right now. Hope it goes better than when H taught S how to tie his shoes right before kindergarten. H got so confused he forgot how to tie his own shoes, and I had to tie BOTH their shoes before we left the house! The next day, they figured it out.
@TheGreyKing: the good news is that there must be tie-tying YouTube tutorials out there, in case your son forgets what your H shows him today!
Yes there are, @cameo43 ! That’s how my sons learned. It somehow seemed more grown-up to learn on their own vs having mom or dad show them. 
And some of those video tutorials are very helpful! I learned how to fix my kitchen faucet that way
I do think there’s something special, though, about a dad teaching a son to do things like that … it makes a memory moment that the son will always have as he grows older. I still have a clear memory of the day my dad taught me to tie my shoes when I was little!
Dropped my youngest off at his out-of-state college this past weekend. I’m still feeling a little blue and tear up periodically. I know some parents can’t wait to get their kids out of the house, but we’ve truly enjoyed every moment with our kids. The house just doesn’t feel the same.
Does anyone feel that between the searching for colleges, applications, financial aid, waiting for decisions, getting ready for move-in and now the moving into college there’s a time of “what do I do now?” I have 3 off to college and now that there is only one home, I’m feeling a little lost.
Kid #1 (senior) left last weekend and I just got back a few hours ago from dropping off Kid #2 (sophomore). I dealt with the empty nest last year, so while I’m a little out of sorts, I know I’ll adjust soon.
Our dog, however, is another matter. Am I projecting my own emotions onto her, or is she truly listless and melancholy?
My daughter is our cat’s favorite human. She was a very happy cat from early May till a week ago. Now she sits outside D’s room and wails and howls. It usually lasts about a week, so I’m hoping she’s winding down… a house with a howling cat is not a pleasant empty nest…
Our dog was a mess last week. He would go into DD’s room and whine until I put him on her bed and they he would curl up on her pillow. He seems back to normal now.
@bjkmom I grew up in the town where your daughter is going to college (my mom was on the faculty there for years, I took some classes there, and later taught some classes there after grad school, my dad taught some classes there too. I was actually just there for the wedding of two alums a few weeks ago)… I sent you a PM
“the kid had never been to a post office, ever.”
My kids went more than me the last few years because I get to mail everything at my office and they have to send back all their Tobi returns at the post office. My daughter who now works in an office commented at how much easier it is to return stuff now.
As for addressing letters and stamping them, kids who like mine went to overnight camp for years have done that 100 times or more.
So funny about the post office. Don’t think my kids even know where it’s located. How times have changed.
My daughter has been away over a week now and just finished her first week of classes. We did a lot of listening this week, and I agree with the advice that it’s best to listen without trying to fix things. There is so much that is new for them in these first few weeks. She set up an account at the local credit union (branch on campus) and let the people there help her after trying to learn about the options online and getting flustered in the process. Her old debit account is linked to my accounts so I can see that she also figured out Venmo, lol.
I was really missing her yesterday and hope that today, a new day, will be better. As for pets, she’s missing her cat. He seems ok but thankfully he likes all of us and not just her.
Today is the day! Not a good sign when she emerged from her room this morning and I got a little misty eyed. I thought maybe I could pretend we were just sending her back to school instead of Russia and I’d be all right. Hopefully I can save the sobbing until after we drop her at the airport.
As I took my own advice for my dd. The RA never reached out, she is in a suite of like 7 kids with shared kitchen, living room and bath. The one kid plays music loud very late. She wants her bicycle (we are close enough to bring it up possibly this weekend 
She has to retake 2 classes with freshman (junior transfer and they like their own classes in her specialty) etc.
Again we said… Isn’t there a place you can rent bikes on campus, isn’t there a number for the RA (taking on how to handle the loud music kid with other roommates) etc. Isn’t there an advisor you met with?
Everything worked out once again and she isn’t a complainer. I just think they need to vent to clear their minds a bit. Every situation is new to them.
Pack up the car tomorrow to take him to school at Michigan on Wednesday. Round 2!
@mom2adancer – yesterday, just over a week in, was hard for me too. We had a nice family FaceTime chat. She’s doing great. I think my hubby and son are doing better than I am. My husband is very busy with work whereas I work from home and have more time with my thoughts. My work projects are also driving me a bit nutty now, and I feel the nudging of a mid-life crisis, lol. What do I want to do as my chicks fly the coop?
Fort., my S21 is more likely to invite his buddies to our house than my D did. So we’ve had kids in and out which helps!
My daughter has been gone since mid-June (summer program taking 2 classes before new semester and then a trip to Germany before going right back to school) and it has probably been hardest on me (Dad’s and their little girls). I gave her a letter the day we dropped her off and I could not see tears coming out of my eyes, so I had to make that letter cry (paraphrasing a Jay-Z lyric). I had been preparing for that day since she was 5 years old and it still wasn’t easy. We have now gotten into a routine (texting 2-3 days a week with her little brother, my wife and I and at least 1 call a week). Good news for us is our home stays so clean now that she is gone:)
@ChangeTheGame… How clean and organized the house is when they are both gone is like magic.! That was the biggest thing I noticed right away. It’s not like it was dirty but just stuff like everywhere and my son dominating the den… Like an extension of his room… Once again we are taking about going to a conference (both in same profession so we can make vacations around conferences), and planning other things. Keeping busy at first worked for us.