Kid having a bumpy 1st semester and I'm second-guessing myself

I had to take PE decades ago in college and it was a miserable experience. I took golf and bowling! I was the only left-handed person in my golf class and really got no help. It was a repeat of a tennis class I took with some friends in high school. Only left handed one there too. Somehow an instruction along the lines of just do the opposite of what we’re doing just doesn’t cut it!

You should just do sports right handed. My daughter is a lefty, but golfs right handed (you are then pulling through with your dominant arm) she has a right handed hockey stick. I have never seen her do anything else in life with her right hand (eat, brush her hair, write, open a door, hold a dog leash) but sports she does. I first noticed it when she stood at a skee-ball machine. The balls come down set up for a right handed person and she just picked them up.

Your daughter has more dexterity than me then with her right side. I played skee ball as a kid and naturally picked up the ball with my left hand. In kickball, I also naturally kicked with left foot The only thing I did right handed was play guitar, but that is only because you need to figure out things with both left and right hands for that. I do everything else with my left hand. I’m too old to change that now. :slight_smile:

I’m left handed too, but I cut with my right hand since proper lefty scissors are hard to find. Im definenitly right footed though and (at least in gymnastics) foot dominance is seperate from hand dominance.
My college does have 1-2 credit pe courses. I want to take a rock climbing course that teaches lead climbing (you clip the rope in as you go instead of it already hanging from the top of the wall, useful for outdoor climbing) sometime this year.

@SouthernHope You got some great advice. Doing things like walking into Honors and advocating for himself…that is a life skill that is key. If the dorm doesn’t work then he should see if switching is an option…though that can be a hassle. But just finding your group through the club team or other clubs is definitely the way to go. Sounds like he is a great kid with great support. :slight_smile:

@SouthernHope, a friend of mine just posted a video on FB that a Cornell freshman made for an assignment that had to be about a transformation. She chose about the loneliness of transitioning to college. I’m not sure if I can post the link here, but if you google “Cornell freshman video on loneliness of college” you should find it. I think it is a great look at what so many kids are feeling yet afraid to talk about.

I have a college freshman too and she is 3500 miles from home. While friendly, she is not exactly outgoing, bubbly, etc., so my biggest worry for her was how she would adjust socially. So far, from what she has told us, she has friends, seems well-adjusted, misses us but is not homesick, etc. She’s joined some clubs, is playing an intramural sport and coaching a team of young kids at the local YMCA (this actually floored me - she volunteered for this completely on her own, takes public transportation there, etc! Totally not something I would ever guess she would do without at least a friend doing it with her!) Despite all this, in the back of my head, I sometimes think “is she really being honest or is she having a tough time?”

When we were there for move-in day, there was a parent orientation. During one of the panel discussions, one of the panelists, a psychology professor, gave this pretty amazing talk about just how much kids struggle as freshmen and all the resources that are available to them if they are having difficulty. She said they often are afraid to admit it b/c so many people, including parents, are constantly saying, “College was the best years of my life” or something along those lines. When kids hear that all the time, it makes them think something is wrong with them if they are not having this great time in college, when they are feeling so lonely, having a hard time making friends, etc. I had never really thought about how that one sentence can really have an impact on a kid who is having a hard time transitioning! And seeing the video I mentioned made me realize just how common this is for kids moving away from home for the first time.

As swimmingdad said above, you have gotten some great advice. I hope your son is able to adjust soon and that you are able to stop beating yourself up about whether he is in the right place.

Our sophomore kid found some fun activities posted at the Rec Center on campus. This weekend’s adventure is camping and white water rafting! She did NOT do these things her first year, and I’m not sure what is different this year, but we are glad to hear she is getting out of her comfort zone and doing something besides studying all the time (her default mode and she gets pretty miserable).

Keep us updated, @SouthernHope