<p>2nd Trimester, hands down, hurts. Encourage them to study. Send some candy. Send some money for a pizza when they get order out. These last few weeks are probably the toughest we experience at Kings Point -- the reason being all those lovely breaks we had to break the trimester up . . . well. . . now the academic gods demand payment. </p>
<p>Try not to pester your midshipman . . . we're busy. We'd love to talk to you, trust me, we'd love nothing better than to sit down and chat with mama and pop, our girlfriends and boyfriends and buddies back home. But every hour spent on the phone with you is every hour we could have spent studying. Or attempting to catch up on that much needed sleep. Or cleaning for those silly inspections that get us stuck if we don't do them. Every midshipman learns this lesson early on in opportunity cost (hooray, economics.) I'm not saying to up and forget about us, I'm just trying to convey the point for you not to take offense. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. Now.. back to. . . 4 tests this week, a paper due tomorrow, a paper due monday, 3 presentations due next week. . . oh yeh, and then finals sometime after that. . .</p>
<p>Oh. And I wish all of us were quite as motivated as LFWB in our studies ;D . . . Hope he's enjoying the Air Force Academy this week.</p>
<p>Encourage kid to study... check, sending candy & more... check... Don't pester the boy, wait for his calls, check.. don't talk long with the boy,... check... Ahh but the one thing missing in all of this is that the kid wants to know what's going on at home... keeps them connected... it's not long phone calls... it's reaching out & touching friends... having freinds & family send notes......</p>
<p>I gave up on regular mail.........mine said he did not have the time to go to the post and pick it up :D........also, I did not think the plebes could have snacks in their rooms yet; at least that's what I was told, so I don't send any candy or goodies yet...correct me if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>SG: No one would correct you. since plebes probably AREN'T allowed ... anything. However, suffice it to say that your plebe would be one of the few who is getting a really perfect checkup from the dentist ;)</p>
<p>As we understand it, they are allowed to have power bars. We send him a life-time supply of power bars every few weeks & if a few other "things" happen to get into that box.... :)</p>
<p>We always send enough for him to share with friends. And when we send holiday goodies, we always make a goody bag just for his room mate.</p>
<p>It's a small gesture that these kids really enjoy.</p>
<p>I think I'm going to have to invent some holidays after Saint Patrick's Day!</p>
<p>Not have time to check the post....... AHH such blasphemy!!! I couldn't rush to the post office quick enough every day to peer through the little glass window of my box and see if I got anything. And if lo and behold there was a little slip of paper indicating a package I did a little jig and would be oh so very mad if the place was closed for the day. I at times would pick up the box when I had an hour off between classes, go to my next classroom if empty and sit there and enjoy the goodies until class started. Ah, the little things made such a difference then. </p>
<p>My mom was a pro at packing tons of stuff into those flat rate boxes.</p>
<p>I'm also a pro at packing the flat rate boxes! I walk into the post office & they give me the "look" (small town)... my box is over-flowing & all taped up... and I just tell them.... "yeah, it's for my son & his friends at school." Off it goes!</p>
<p>What I have been is a slacker on regular mail... we send a note about once a week... having read your post, I'll pick up the pace... IM's are good but a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush... I get it, THANKS! kp2001!</p>
<p>I'm a pro too...but mine have been going to my other son in Iraq because I did not think my plebe son could get stuff yet......guess I'll start packing two at a time......hmmmm I may have to get a part time job to support the boodle boxes :D</p>
<p>As to Plebes not allowed to have food/candy/snacks. . . </p>
<p><em>sigh</em> Oh, parents, you all act as if we are perfect little angels, doing whatever the regiment tells us to do. <em>GASP!</em> I could probably walk out onto my deck, walk into any of my given plebes' rooms, and, with a decent search and snoop (for I am well versed in hideaway spots, as I was a plebe myself), find half of them infested with all manner of happy "contraband" consisting of hershey's kisses to kool-aid. . . </p>
<p>Half the fun of sending your plebe food stuffs is actually HIDING the foodstuffs from upperclassmen.</p>
<p>Trust me -- I was a very by the book plebe, and am still very much so a by the book Midshipman. But sometimes, as a great midshipman once told me "Its not what you CAN or CANT do, its what you can GET AWAY WITH within moral reasoning." . . . You can't get away with skipping class or disrespecting upperclassmen . . . but partaking in a bag of hershey kisses, tucked away in your air conditioning vent? No problem.</p>
<p>Sigh, now if you'll excuse me -- some third classmen just shaving cream bombed the passageway XD</p>
<p>LOL Jamz......ok so I'm a by the book parent........guess the hockey referee training will never go away :) to think I've denied my son the thrill of the game. Well, let the games begin!</p>
<p>Let's go visit SG's kid. Care packages are likely to get a severe uptick in variety. Yummy. Careful though, I'm still put off my what is2day may have sent -- dog jerky from China. (avoid the meats) :)</p>
<p>Still stressed. With all due respect, I'm impressed that you folks have kids with great GPAs and such.. Kudos to their time management, aptitude, and dedication. But with respect, that dang 'worst high school in America' must have been at Mensa Village ;)</p>
<p>KP certainly makes plain just which study habits or techniques you need to focus on and change. Sorta sand-blasts off the inefficiencies and dull paint . So, right now... Well... my kid's getting, um, "shiny-er".</p>
<p>Hope something good comes out of the departmental meeting they had. ANYthing is better than nothing.</p>
<p>I've sent several packages of cookies and brownies. And all the Target runs when he does get home for his beef jerkey and cereal bars to bring back to KP. He claims it is a matter of survival. He must be master of deceit since he never told me he was caught with the goods. Come on you guys no one sent Christmas presents and stuff? Working on Valentines now. The only problem is he is not much of a candy eater. Sending heart shaped blueberry muffins with his usual survival items and an American Express Gift Card for him to have a nice dinner out one night. Anything to keep his spirits up. Send those Valentine packages and let your guys know how much you love them! Let them know, "Nobody will every love them like their mother (or father)." Something I regularly drill into my boys' heads.</p>
<p>We keep sending the things our plebe insists are necessary for survival...power bars, rammen noodle packs, cheese & p-nut butter sandwich crackers (nabs,) green tea mix for water, cocoa mix, etc. I admit I did bake a heart-shaped brownie which the post office assured me would arrive KP tomorrow!</p>