<p>"Checked with our ob/gyn, who is a family firend and he said 21, unless sexually active."</p>
<p>Most females will be sexually active well before age 21, so having an ob-gyn appointment before going to college is a good idea. It's also possible that a girl is sexually active in h.s., but her parents don't know.</p>
<p>mathmom, if your son does not get his driver's license before leaving for college, he should go to the motor vehicle department anyway (he probably needs a birth certificate and some proof of residence) and get a non-driver's legal ID card. </p>
<p>These are the cards that they issue to people who can't drive for medical reasons but who say "But...but...but...I gotta have a driver's license or I won't be able to cash checks." </p>
<p>Your son may also need to pay things by check sometimes, and his student ID may not always be acceptable identification. That legal ID would be useful, I think.</p>
<p>Sorry about the double post, but for some reason I couldn't edit the other one.</p>
<p>If you're shipping anything to your child's college you may need to get involved in that process right now. At my daughter's campus, there is a service that works in cooperation with UPS to deliver packages to kids' dorm rooms before they arrive. The kids arrive on August 17, but the delivery service needs to receive the packages by August 10. This means they must be shipped by August 5 at the latest. We just did a massive shopping trip yesterday, and we will be packing boxes this week. </p>
<p>Your mileage may vary depending on when school starts at your child's campus.</p>
<p>College clinics have ob/gyn services, so I haven't pressured my still-17 daughter to deal with that aspect of life yet.</p>
<p>But even more important than scheduling all the medical/dental/ophthalmological stuff is for the prospective student to get used to talking to health professionals, rather than letting the parent do the talking. My daughter had a doctor's appointment last week to deal with an infection on her foot, and although I was there (since she's 17, I pretty much have to be there), we both agreed that I would shut up as much as possible and she would do as much of the talking as possible. I think this is useful.</p>
<p>The first couple of years that my son was at college, when he had medical appointments at the clinic there, he inevitably had to call me on his cell phone to ask for details about his own medical history. There was also the 6 am "I've been throwing up all night and I have a final exam in an hour; what do I do?" phone call, and the late-night "I took one of my pills and then realized that I had already taken one half an hour ago; what do I do?" phone call. You will be your student's medical consultant for a long time to come.</p>
<p>We are still waiting on the bank. My daughter turns 18 on August 4 and the bank she wants to use will not give student accounts to under-18s. So that's the top errand on our list for after her birthday.</p>
<p>Edited to add: At some point (probably while your child is away at college), your auto insurance company may ask for a copy of the child's latest report card or transcript, to determine whether the child is eligible for the Good Student Discount. Do you have one? If not, it would be a good idea for your child to go to the high school and get a transcript before leaving town. The high school may balk at giving one to the parent later (if the student is 18, giving a transcript to the parent without the student's consent may be a violation of the student's rights).</p>
<p>My girlfriends daughter just graduated from college and got her first HPV shots, didn't see any reason to before, since she wasn't sexually active. She also didn't drink until this year either. (and still enjoyed college!)In her case, her mom offered, but as an adult, she didn't push her to go before she was ready. Her pedi doctor let her stay with her thru college, although she had a pap smear at 21 with a gyn. I know most students seem sexually active but I do hear of high school and some college age students that don't whether for personal or sometimes religious reasons.
My girls are 15 and refused the new vaccine. The told their pediatrician that they weren't having sex, didn't plan to in high school and they would consider it later. Reading about it I didn't see it as a "must do" this year and I'm sure it will be brought up yearly at their visits if they change their minds.
I did learn to plan my sons college dr. appt's early...and then they sometimes get canceled, because everyone else is doing the same thing. Breaks whether winter or spring, get to be extremely busy with so many students home. Don't expect unless it's an emergency to get right in when they are home.</p>
<p>Marian, good point about getting an ID. I spent my college years having to use my passport and occassionally had problems (like with Amtrak!) when it wasn't considered a real ID. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>mathmom</p>
<p>If your son doesn't have a learner's permit and hasn't taken driver's ed, NO WAY do you want him driving in college. A kid needs a ton of supervised practice before driving on his own. The id thing is different.</p>
<p>What about registering to vote? Do they register at home, and then vote absentee, or does young adult register at school?</p>
<p>College students can vote in their home or school state. Many students pick the state for which they feel their vote would be the most influencial (i.e. a Massachusetts student going to Dartmouth in New Hampshire, or a Georgia student going to Florida State). There will be many opportunities to easily register to vote at college for students who wish to, but it's always good to get things done in advance.</p>
<p>He'd taking driver's ed now. We just haven't gotten around to getting the learner's permit. (Probably will do that next week.) In theory he could get in a bit of practice and get his license before he goes to college, but more likely we'll put it off a bit.</p>
<p>Marian, the insurance discount has always been why our kids were willing to share transcripts. They might not immediatly report semester grades in case they were afraid parents would question that B- in calculus, but if the info will save them money, here's the report card! I appreciated that D's health form had a sign-off place where they could waive privacy in case of emergency.</p>