<p>One thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of products out there now that taste really good, they don’t taste like alcohol at all, more like fruit punch or lemonade. It is very easy for new drinkers to drink these and also not realize how much they are drinking. Also think about mudslides and frozen drinks that taste like milkshakes.</p>
<p>Fine wine is an acquired taste, even beer was for me. So as much as we offered wine to all of our kids around the table, none of them really liked it until they were much older. My point is they may be offered things that taste good and as several posters have mentioned some of their adamant non-drinkers drank and had some issues.</p>
<p>But off the alcohol topic. It’s very exciting that S got his id at orientation two weeks ago. It is really sinking in now, he is a college student. My H is taking it hard at times “what are we going to do”. For me, I have been seeing him a lot this summer since I’ve been home during the day, so I am still with the day to day issues. There is so much to be done before he leaves, that I’m not sure how its all going to happen-minor surgery, 4 doc visits, vax, etc. Plus he is going to lose his license for 30 days for violating the 11 pm curfew one Sat nite when he couldn’t reach me. A long remainder of the summer, we are going to have to get him back and forth to work every day and drive him everywhere else.
I’m sure it will it me hard come late Aug, as I will be wandering around the empty house. Well I have the dog(s).</p>
<p>Happy 4th of July! I just made our traditional cool whip flag cake. It made me happy when D1 called from Philly yesterday to get the recipe. I hope you all have a great holiday. Off to a pool party with neighborhood friends.</p>
<p>amandakayak: I am looking forward to family weekend at Pitt! Yes we plan to go. Attend football game, take D out to dinner somewhere nice, and possibly do a little sightseeing! By November I’m sure we’ll be missing her and vice versa, and it will be nice to see in person that she is (hopefully) happy and doing fine!</p>
<p>Hi! I am new to CC as a poster, but (please don’t hate me) I have been following the HS Class of 2011 family for quite some time. Just never got the nerve to start talking. All of your posts in the past year have been so wonderful! I felt like I wasn’t alone in the process. I followed the ups and downs of college visits, the wait for letters, the decision process and all the joys of graduations. You all have been my companions for many months. Hope you’ll welcome me now that I talk. My D, Starfishgirl is an incoming freshman to Lawrence University. Starfishboy is now a senior at Beloit College.</p>
<p>We received an email from D2’s squad leader informing us that our daughter’s mail key isn’t working, and she hasn’t received any of the letters we’ve sent. D2 specifically requested a letter a day, and now she’s gone a full week without any letters (she should have received at least eight) while I’m sure the other new cadets around her have been reading news from home. The squad leader gave us permission to send mail to her address till the problem is corrected, so guess I’ll be at the post office overnighting something tomorrow.</p>
<p>Happy 4th of July! Good thoughts out to everyone, especially those in the military overseas!</p>
<p>So many posts…couldn’t read them all but it looks like everyone is on the move and counting down the days.</p>
<p>My name is Kathy and I’m a lurker who sometimes posts. My H of 27 yrs and I have an awesome (only) S who is 17 (18 in Oct) who is moving cross country to UPenn. We are happy, sad, nervous, excited…you know the drill. </p>
<p>He’s excited to go but not someone who goes online and connects, so he knows where he is living and with whom (a boy from AZ), but isn’t too concerned about talking with him…he’ll deal with it when he gets there (LOL). We are going to send him with the minimum items we can, knowing we can ship anything he needs later. Have seen advice about purchasing, and he will get his winter coat and boots there.</p>
<p>Amazon Prime - awesome! We just added it to our account…we get the free discount and can choose who it’s shipped to/what gets billed. We didn’t have to make an account for him so it was great!</p>
<p>Love the advice about sheets/towel colors. Great tips!</p>
<p>Look forward to reading and chatting with you all!</p>
<p>phb- I am glad the squad leader wrote to let you know. I find it hard to believe though that they don’t have a master key? She will be glad to finally get some mail from you. </p>
<p>welcome ohio and proudmomofS. welcome bajamm - my neice is a mol bio major in her 3rd year at Tulane. She loves it. </p>
<p>snoozn - good luck to your D wrt the dancing. Hopefully she finds something profitable. </p>
<p>VaMom- looking forward to pictures of our resident clown!
emmybet - hope D enjoys orientation.</p>
<p>regarding alcohol. I know S drinks, but he hasn’t come home drunk. He has had friends sleep over who had too much to drink and couldn’t drive home. (they were drinking elsewhere) H is city born and raised, he is very familar with drinking and drugs so he closely monitors S when he comes home. We have had the “talk” about the dangers of drinking with S and we hope we have gotten through to him. But, I fully expect that on at least one occasion S will get drunk when he is at college. I just hope it is an infrequent occurance and he only drinks in moderation. I do like to have a glass of wine at night, H rarely drinks. We have yet to offer S a beer or wine at home and I am not sure we will til he is 21. I agree with someone else who mentioned that is is easy to overdo the fruitty or dairy based drinks.</p>
<p>Welcome OhioStarFish and CaliLax–this is a great place.</p>
<p>PHB–has she been able to get her mail? Seems that even if the box key doesn’t work, she could get the “mail person” to hand her mail from her box? I’m going from mail box knowledge from living overseas in the military, and on military posts, but someone puts those letters in the box. Of course the problem may be that she is never free during “open” hours to catch the worker and ask for mail. I know they keep the cadets uber busy those first months. Hope it gets fixed ASAP–mail is an important morale booster!</p>
<p>Parade was a great success and wasn’t as hot as Memorial Day. I’ll post some pics when I get the chance. I need to go get ready for street party. I’m tired and it’s not even 4pm yet! Such a party girl.</p>
<p>On the drinking: remind kiddos to have a DeeDee. Someone else mentioned it. That was my name all during my husband’s active duty career, because he would have lost his career if he was pulled over for DUI (and one drink can put you there if you haven’t eaten). So remind them about the important designated driver. If your son/daughter doesn’t want to drink, have them offer to be the DD, so then there is not only no pressure NOT to drink, but a reason for his friends to protect him from any pressure. I realize this may not fit for college dorm issues, but someone should still be the DD to make sure everyone gets home safely! Girls especially should have a “no friend left behind” rule!</p>
<p>It never fails… two days before we drive our DS down to USC for a month long summer program he complains of ear pain, clogging, and congestion. Just got off the phone and was able to book an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. Hope its easily treated- he has a history of impacted ear wax and has been swimming alot.</p>
<p>We will attend our first parent orientation on Thursday and Friday and are looking forward to it. The college always treats us so well… after all, we’re footing a pretty hefty bill. So looking forward to escaping this central valley heatwave- over 100 all week.</p>
<p>phb - so sory to hear about your D’s mail issues! I"m glad that her squad leader contacted you and gave you permission to overnight her mail until they resolve the problem. </p>
<p>Good luck to Snoozn’s D; I hope she is able to earn some money doing what she loves. And to those who are attending orientation - have fun!</p>
<p>I agree with Vamom’s advice - I have always told my older D to make sure she always goes out with several other girls. Odds are, some will want to stay and others will want to go so traveling with a group gives you the flexibility to split up and still not leave anyone behind.</p>
<p>Hi all
Just saw this …for some reason CC won’t let me add the link…</p>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has revealed that he was so worried about his drinking that he vowed to give it up and has become teetotal.</p>
<p>The 21-year-old actor told GQ magazine that his life went off the rails for a time when he turned 18
…</p>
<p>D is leaving early morning tomorrow for her flights to get to orientation and then she has to navigate the shuttle ride (which will be more than one hour). SHe is packed but is so incredibly nervous she just wants us to go to the fireworks now. I still have to cook our dinner we are taking and h didn’t want to go to early since he thinks we will have repeat of last night (i.e. thunderstorms). Unfortunately my early rising insomnia is taking a toll on higher brain functions and I see I am making more stupid mistakes. Nothing really bad but everything seems teetering.<br>
My latest moving problem is I have a hold up on getting phone service in our new location. We were going with a triple pack for cable, internet and phone just like we have here but while the cable complany has two houses next to mine wired, it doesn’t have ours so they need to send someone out physically to check if there is any reason it can’t be done. I know there isn’t but I still have to wait. They say 3-5 business days and my movers are coming in five business days so I hope it is the 3.</p>
<p>PHB: I’m sorry to hear about the mail snafu. It must be hard not having any contact, but I’m sure that your daughter can handle things.</p>
<p>Welcome Ohio, Califlaxmom and all the other new posters. I’m glad that you decided to chime in. It is really nice to have this group to share the journey.</p>
<p>Califilaxmom: Your son will love Penn! All the students love New Student Orientation. My daughter is very sad that she only has one more year. Please PM me if you have any specific questions. </p>
<p>Minnymom: I hope your son recovers quickly.</p>
<p>MM: You win the high stress award once again. I hope that your daughter has a great time at orientation. It should help relieve her worries.</p>
<p>I know I shouldn’t be surprised how many pages have already been filled since this thread was started, knowing how actively engaged this group has been all along, but still…wow!!</p>
<p>In reintroducing myself from the 2011/2015 thread, I have 2 daughters - 1 heading to Brown as a freshman, and 1 heading to prep school as a freshman - so we will officially be “empty nesters” this autumn - something I am trying not to think about until it actually happens.</p>
<p>My 2011 high school graduate is currently traveling in Europe for a few weeks with 3 friends as a post-graduation trip. She is not in touch that much but every time she does call, I can’t believe how smoothly everything is going, and how well it is all working out - I seem to keep waiting for the “other shoe to drop”! I am looking forward to spending the rest of the summer with her before she starts school in early September. Her university’s orientation is tied in with the official start of school for all freshmen. There is an optional special-interest orientation week immediately ahead of time, but she is choosing to join the class on the first day required for all freshmen, which is over Labor Day weekend. </p>
<p>Regarding drinking, that is an unavoidable topic. My daughter did attend sleep-over graduation parties where I later learned alcohol was served. I myself couldn’t host something like that - first of all, I am far too fearful of the legal ramifications, and also don’t want to enable potentially dangerous behavior (room full of teenagers with lowered inhibitions…) At the same time, it would be hypocritical of me to think she won’t ever drink before the age of 21, and that is not an expectation of mine. She has certainly had a glass of champagne at home for a celebratory toast, etc. I grew up abroad, where drinking was a part of our culture. One thing that does make a difference for my daughter is that she is a student/athlete, and, as fogfog pointed out, being on a D1 Varsity team with multiple daily practices, it will be hard to fit much partying into her schedule. </p>
<p>Looking forward to reading this thread, as I have done with our original one. I tend not to write that frequently, but I do read it almost every day! </p>
<p>Hello all! It’s wonderful to be here on the new thread. I was a late-comer to the old one, but got so much pleasure and support there and am looking forward to continuing the friendships over here.</p>
<p>A brief bio: I live in Boston (yes, city of, so those of you with S’s and D’s at BU, NE, Harvard, MIT, etc., I’m close by). D will be starting at Yale in the fall, and has now retracted likely major and is officially undecided. S '14 (high school) will still be around for a while, and I am looking forward to getting to know him. I am also looking forward to reinventing myself after my career crashed and burned a few years ago and I tabled dealing with it until the family situation settled down some. Now is the time! Any and all suggestions will be welcomed - and taken seriously!</p>
<p>Welcome to all the newcomers and former lurkers. Looking forward to getting to know you. Not to mention keeping up with the news from older friends!</p>
<p>Bossof51 - If you are replying to my post, I never said I would “give my child a six-pack so she can get drunk”. I said I had thought of allowing her to TRY alcohol in our home, which in Ohio, is legal. I agree that giving kids alcohol to be “cool” is idiotic and I don’t think anyone on this site said they had ever considered that. If I were to do this (and that’s a big IF), it would only be to allow her to see how quickly alcohol can affect a 5 foot, 100 pound girl. I think your comment about “showing some guts for once” is misplaced.</p>
<p>Welcome to those who decided to reveal themselves today. We look forward to hearing about each of you and your families. </p>
<p>It’s too hot and buggy down here to fight the crowds to see the fireworks. We’re opting for a front row, air-conditioned seat at home. Hope everyone enjoys their show - inside or out, professional or homemade.</p>
<p>I need some advice from my Massachusetts friends. After we drop our son off at college, we are going to Tanglewood. I haven’t been there in 40 years. We will be seeing a Beethoven concert. Is it worth the extra $$ to sit in sections 1-9 or is 10+ OK? Any suggestions on places to stay? Our next stop is near West Orange NJ so we’d like to be heading that way to ease leaving in the morning.</p>
<p>Starfishgirl’s orientation is the week before classes begin, which is awesome for us because we don’t have to make an extra trip from Central Ohio to NE Wisconsin. She has preregistered for classes online. Lawrence U. has a very established online communication system and utilizes it well. Starfishboy (college class of 2012) had a similar schedule, but registered for classes at orientation. Even though Starfishgirl doesn’t start her first “freshman studies” class until Sept. 9, she has to be there mid-August for practices since she will be on the tennis team. We are hoping that the dorm/roommate assignment packet comes this week (or maybe next).</p>
<p>So excited to be in contact with you all! This is a powerful brain trust of experience and ideas - and warm friendships! Thanks for welcoming all of us “Newbies” and “Former Lurkers”!</p>
.•°<em>”˜˜”</em>°•.¸:v:☆ ★ ☆:v:¸.•°<em>”˜˜”</em>°•.¸☆</p>