Congratulations @MSU88! It took a lot of patience, on your part, to let you S come around to the decision on his own, but he clearly wanted make the decision extra fun for you, by wearing the shirt!
We hope the decision making process pans out relatively smoothly for your students, @klinska, @93pilots and @CoyoteMom! They have some great choices and should feel good about being accepted so many places. It’s the culmination of 4 years of (mostly) hard work and dedication to the ECs they cared about. My S is always annoyed by kids who are obviously doing an EC because it will look good on their application, not because they actually really like what they are doing. We come from a pretty privileged community and for some of families, its about resume-building.
Agreed @eandesmom, @Hankster1361, @techmom99 (and probably all of us) Senioritis and the stress of all the other events and planning needed, even if your D or S has made their college decision, makes a lot of us, parents and kids, short-tempered. And the one thing I will NOT miss about my kid is having to drag an 17 yr old out of bed every morning. S16 got up on his own, all of Sr year, but S17 sleeps thru his alarm all the time. I could never trust that he’d get up and out on his own. I am happy to soon say “Goodbye!” to stressful mornings!
Other than the the mornings issue, and a little harping on S about keeping up his grades and getting a job again, the stress at our house has been manageable. He is our only kid at home right now, and S16 is doing well at college (alos needs a summer job, tho!). But now we have a new issue to deal with. After DS’s serious car accident, last summer, he could not drive for about 5 months, while his surgically repaired right foot was still healing, and then we tacked on a few more months of not driving, because the accident was his fault, and there had to be consequences.
Thankfully he did not argue with our decision, but we had talked about letting him drive again (and putting him back on our car in$urance) after spring break, which ended April 2nd. We started with having him drive with us, just to get back into practice, and have been letting him use the car for a few short trips around town. The whole accident thing was really hard to comprehend at first, because S was a very good driver. The DMV driving test giver even walked into the waiting area, to personally tell me what a great job and great kid he is. (S is very good with parents/adults.) He was singing along to Hamilton or something, with his fellow thespian gal pal, and got distracted in what they were doing and lost control. Also, he was driving my husband’s car, which more powerful than the beater Toyota Camry the boys shared, and he was going too fast. Thankfully no other vehicles involved, and the pretty serious injuries sustained will mostly heal, with time. The fact that his friend was hurt has been the worst part of the situation, and the reason why, I think, S has been accepting of restrictions we put on him this year. DS will carry a scar on his forehead for the rest of his life, as a reminder of this actions, although, in true DS style, he is disappointed that the scar is healing so well, that it is not nearly so obvious anymore; because he thought it made his hairless-chinned face look a little more “bad-ass!” Anyway, long story short, we are dealing with the driving and curfew issues again, and we know he’ll be pushing the limits as we get into summer. We’ve straight up told him we’ll take away the keys again, if he doesn’t agree to our requirements about where he drives and when he comes home. Neither son will take the car to college, and they will have to share again, this summer. Thankfully we have bikes and a bike-friendly city, as an option to get around town, now that its spring.
Keep the good ones coming, @tacocat333! We continue to need some =)) theses days!
Take care all! And keep sharing.