<p>got one! $5.15 on half.com including shipping!</p>
<p>I’d say if they don’t know how to be kind and courteous now, it’s too late!</p>
<p>I see a few things that we’ve neglected but looks like summer vacation, camps and boy scouts has taken care of all the outdoor stuff. Family and consumer science classes took care of lots more.</p>
<p>How about basic computer maintenance? My daughter wants her brother to attend her college just so he can keep her computer up and running!</p>
<p>I’d add basic organizational skills, especially time-sensitive due dates and deadlines. College-age students HAVE to be able to manage homework and projects. If Mom’s been doing it through high-school, then the adjustment may be hard.</p>
<p>Along the lines of kind and courteous, they should remember their parents’ birthdays!! (Said after daughter has not noticed either my husband’s or my birthday). They should know they should respond to e-mails and the best way to keep a parent off their backs is to be pro=active and drop a line or a quick phone call re:quick recap of what’s going on in their lives.</p>
<p>Not speaking from person experience of course…LOL!</p>
<p>
Pretty sure S will learn how to darn socks before he get’s ^^this down. :(</p>
<p>Time management and how to set their own alarm clocks (purchased D an clock to take to school and she still hasn’t figured out how to use it)</p>
<p>They must be doing a better job of making shirts ad blouses these days because since my mom showed me how to sew on buttons in middle school I’ve only had to sew on one button in the past five years. Maybe we don’t keep our clothes for several years-other than T-shirts!</p>
<p>My D who is a hs senior asked her college junior brother about how to do laundry in college. He said - "It’s easy, just make sure to have like 30 pairs of underwear and a few shirts and pants and you only have to do it once a month ! 
! " I don’t think this approach would work for most girls!</p>
<p>Important skill: Learn how to “pack light”. Doing this requires knowing the difference between what you NEED and what you WANT. </p>
<p>Important skill #2: Learn how to shop for small things yourself BEFORE you ask your parents to pay for these things…e.g. DS called and asked us to buy a lock with a key. We politely told him to look in his college city where we were SURE they sold locks with keys.</p>
<p>I think they are doing a better job of making clothes.
My older daughter wears a down jacket that I had before she was born, she also uses a backpack that I used when she was 4 and in school, it’s a little faded but no tears and the zippers still work great
( contrast to the much loved fake-Prada bag her sister bought on the streets of NY whose zipper broke before she returned to the hostel)</p>
<p>Socks and buttons:
My S will have to learn how to put buttons into buttonholes first! He refuses to wear anything but T-shirts. He did wear a polo shirt to interviews, but that’s about it.
As for socks, he wears them until there’s a hole big enough that even I would not consider mending it.
As for cooking, forget about it. He’s great at reading microwaving instructions and ordering pizzas. I suspect that will be the extent of his culinary skills for quite a while.
I know one highly respected theoretical physicist who did not know how to boil an egg well into her graduate career.</p>
<p>marite,</p>
<p>Has my son moved in with you!!! <em>LOLOLOL</em> ~berurah</p>
<p>i got some things…</p>
<p>know how to do laundry.
know how to sew a button. (i know they have been said)
know not to put a sharpened pencil in their coat pocket (or the sewing kit will definately come into the picture. i’ve had to repair holes in two of my jackets because of this ;))
how to read microwave directions… especially popcorn (the dorm will kick your butt if you burn it… the hall will reak for hours)
time management (i realize that most kids cant be taught this… but oh well… a planner works great)
how to balance a check book
when to charge and when not to charge (heck, i still charge 2 bucks at the book store)
know to be friendly and try not to judge people too early (like i said, cant really be taught overnight)
school first, then ec’s then friends.<br>
and tell them to get involved… seriously… there are so many activities on every campus with tons of people just waiting to be friends with you!</p>
<p>im sure ther are more… but i must get going now.</p>
<p>
This one resonates with me. What are some tips for kids who may be a little reluctant/shy to get them to do the exploratory steps to getting involved?</p>
<p>Maybe this is a separate thread?</p>
<p>I’m tempted to compile a mini-cook book for S. Twice in one weekend he called to ask (1) what temp setting on the stove to cook scrambled eggs and (2) what temp setting on the stove to cook French toast! He also asked (around Thanksgiving) where to find the hams in the supermarket (calling from Ralph’s) and asked if they were in the hot or cold section. (Hot? Cold?) Directed him to the meat section in front of which he had been standing the entire time. Oh, well.</p>
<p>Little Mother:</p>
<p>Calling from the supermarket? Congrats to your son! I don’t think my S has been inside of one since the days I was able to put him into the child seat of the supermarket cart!</p>
<p>Jamimom, I laughed when reading your post! So true…</p>
<p>JmMom, I agree on the learning how to get yourself up in the morning. My older child, now in college, did this for a few years before going to college. My husband STILL wakes the younger one up each day for school and right now, I have to train HIM to understand that it is time to train HER to do these things on her own as she goes to college in 6 months and will have to do it and he is not doing her a favor. He might like doing this and that for her but she has to start doing these things herself and it can’t start the first day of college.</p>
<p>Little Mother…that reminds me of an experience recently with my freshman daughter. She was spending a month with her college ski team training in NH and they were staying in condos. Her condo had 12 people in it. She called me about grocery shopping and how much to buy for this or that meal (how many pounds of meat, etc). For some reason, she was the one doing a week’s worth of shopping for the entire group. Then for several nights she would call about a recipe or how to cook something as she was cooking for the whole group. I kept asking how come she was doing all this and she said “someone has to step up and do it” and I guess she is the type and I think she likely enjoyed the cooking. So, like three nights in a row, she called asking questions to do with what she was making. One of the nights, she called, I was in a restaurant with my husband and the restaurant was run by a culinary school and all the help there were culinary students and so it was kinda funny cause I did not know the answer to her question but there were plenty of folks there who did. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I love it when my grad student S calls and asks for my recipe info. Disguised complement, although he has informed me on occasion how he improved the meal. He’s been cooking since soph yr of college, thus he has impressed a few girlfriends.</p>
<p>Frosh D called today and proudly announced that she had washed her sheets (first time in 7 weeks). It’s not that she doesn’t know how to do laundry, it’s that she won’t do laundry. She lucked out with a great roommate with similar bad housekeeping habits. I’m visiting next week, which is why she washed the sheets.</p>
<p>getting involved… with organizations…</p>
<p>i would say to keep a look out for signs on campus… flyers, handouts, etc… if your kid is interested in one, maybe he/she could see if their roommate(s), or someone they know in the dorm are interested in going… so many people find things they like, but just don’t want to go alone… and it really is a nice way to meet people, because everybody is at those kind of things because they want to be, so you already have something in common with everyone else there… i’m a member of habitat for humanity, which is one of the largest organizations on my campus… as well as the college democrats, which is also one of the largest organizations on campus… so even though i’m a relatively quiet person, i know a ton of people (which i may add makes me seem not so quiet at all… since i know everyone…)</p>
<p>i know on my campus theres like movie nights, or bingo, or live music, or comedians… stuff like that that’s fun to go to on campus.</p>
<p>haha Sooz. Coming from a family of insomniacs, I’m secretly pleased that my boys sleep like the dead. However, H and I made the mistake of waking S1 until he left home. He had great trouble waking to an alarm during first semester. As a result, S2 now gets blasted by radio and buzzer, one two punch–and it costs him $10 if he sleeps through those.</p>
<p>Also, this may be a boy thing, but after the age of fourteen, I find the effectiveness of parental teaching drops off.</p>
<p>As in: “Honey, don’t fall in that hole!” </p>
<p>Then, the boy falls in and needs parental help getting out.</p>
<p>Now, he may never fall in that particular hole again–but he isn’t likely to heed further parental warnings about other pitfalls. This is why the Disney Halfway House for Americans (aka College) is such a blessing. </p>
<p>Presumably S1 is falling in holes on a daily basis, but I only hear about the worst ones. (Mono, strep, etc). :p</p>