I’ve been away from CC too long, so I did my best to catch up on all your updates-keep them coming! We started off the empty nest chapter with a weekend getaway to NYC which was nice. We’ve been adjusting, but it’s very weird with no kids, just us & the dogs.
My son is really loving Case Western so far. He does miss his GF (she goes to Binghamton) but that’s been the only negative in his mind and they talk a lot so that helps. He is enjoying the psych & cognitive science classes and said music theory is his toughest class (first time taking it) but he said he likes a challenge and the teacher is very good.
He joined Jazz Ensemble & Pop Music Ensemble but decided against Marching Band, too much of a time commitment. He told me joined several clubs: Psychology club, pickleball club, ultimate frisbee, a Latino culture club and even salsa dancing club (wasn’t expecting that one!) He was also excited to be chosen for a psychology research assistant work study job. It does require most Saturdays, so I guess he won’t be home as much as I had hoped, but these jobs usually go to upperclassmen (he had 2 stages of interviews) so he felt very lucky!
He & his roommate met through an instagram page and they are a great match! They really get along well, both have chill personalities and are active with bike riding, running, rock climbing, etc. I’ll end with a funny story. My son is a very restless sleeper and has even been known to sleep walk, talk in his sleep or thrash around when he sleeps. I insisted the bed be kept at a low level for fear of his safety! So day 2 with his roommate, he apparently got out of bed in the middle of the night, hit his roommate in the face with his pillow (luckily not too hard) and casually went back to bed, with no memory of this! His roommate told him about it in the morning and he felt so bad! I asked if his roommate requested a new roommate and he said “No, he thought it was hysterical and we laughed about it all day!” Lol. Well, at least the kid has a good sense of humor
@1dadinNC she must be miserable. S21 was diagnosed with both covid and flu B strain two weeks into his freshman year. He was eight hours away and sent to an isolation apartment for TEN days. Definitely not a great way to start his freshman year. A few weeks after isolation ended, all of his friends/roommates were going home for fall break, but he had originally planned to stay. I felt so bad at him being alone again, I found a cheap ticket and flew him home for break. Good thing I did - he had a horrible cough that never subsided so just hours before his flight back, I booked a later flight and took him to Urgent Care. He had bronchitis! Just three weeks after Covid and strep.
His school had decided that year that kids would not return to campus after Thanksgiving (last week of classes were online, then online finals before Christmas break). The day after he came home for Thanksgiving, he told me he had a fever. Long story short, took him to pediatrician and he tested positive for flu A!
So in less than a 12 week span, he had Covid, Flu A and B, and bronchitis!
Thankfully he has remained healthy since then but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up with covid again. Just praying he and D23 are healthy for their fall breaks b/c my oldest is getting married in early October!
Oh, that poor young woman! How kind that your daughter was able to keep her company. When my own daughter ended up in the ER during college, friends who stayed with her really buoyed her spirits. It seems like a small gesture but it means so much to those who are hurting.
I’m so worried for all of our kids who are getting sick! I know it’s part of the college experience but it doesn’t make it any easier. S23 will surely get the flu if he’s not diligent about getting the flu shot and masking/sanitizing. Hopefully, the memory of how absolutely awful he felt last time he had it will motivate him!
Sending healing thoughts to all our sick kiddos❤️🩹
DD had no classes in Rhodes on Labor Day. Instead big group of kids visited 2 professors’ home for dinner. Their kid is also in college and part of the “team.” So the whole “team” got invited. “Team” is my understanding two rooms from the same dorm. They are travelling in two cars all the time around…
I know of a few others in this situation and it breaks my heart! We all need to be very careful and spread the message to our kids. I’m so sorry your child has to deal with this on a long-term basis. I hope things get better or they develop medical treatments to help. Sending hugs!
Hi
I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions to increase the chances of getting in to Quest program in UMD? It came highly recommended from most people in UMD.
Daughter is very excited about all the opportunities it has.
After our experience of being waitlisted in 3 elite colleges and not having the outcome as I was hoping for her. I have told her to try her best but not to set her heart on it till she gets in.
Any input is appreciated
She is in Comp engineering.
D23 is all moved in. She’s in Boston but went up early for a pre-orientation “leadership” experience which was really great for her. She met some nice friends, had 3 nights in her room alone, learned her way around the city and got involved immediately with some campus organizations. Her dorm is lovely. She’s in a triple, one roomie is a match, the other one she is not vibing with, but is nice enough. The food is mediocre and she told me she is “low-key craving fruit” but she’s eating. We deleted Life360 before she left because I really DO want to give her privacy, let go but…we have a family story on Snapchat and I can see her on the snapmap. Trying really hard not to look. Rush starts next weekend. And I am going to London for ten days soon - I thought a big trip would help me with empty nesting. And then parents weekend is soon after I get back, in October. She’s been great about texting and snapping, sharing fun stuff and class stuff with us. She loves Boston. So it’s all good. But I miss her a ton!
We are actually keeping Life360 even for the oldest, and she does not mind. It is easier that way to make sure that everyone is safe and well even when there are no text messages with updates. It also allows not only see the location but also movements and time. If a student was not out for a while, you know that something is going on…Similarly, if a student is out too much…You can call it stocking, but if my child is at an activity or having dinner (I can see building names on the map), I would not call or text and bother her with something.
We have it and I forget what for, but even pay for the subscription. So we can see where both kids are - with one in DC this semester and normally Charleston, it helps to see when they get back.
I don’t love being tracked - but happy wife, happy life.
It surprisingly works even for studying abroad and even with different SIM cards. I could track DD on the buses in Ireland and in plane landing in Iceland.
All our kids are on our Find My Friends. Through college it’s a condition of our paying for their phones and phone services, though two are old enough that they reimburse us now and they still stayed on it at their election. We let them track us too. And apparently some of their friends are on each others tracking too so it seems pretty normal to them.
Kids all have Apple, I have Android (no, don’t try to sell me on switching). My 22 year old does show location on snapchat but is not on our life360. S23 I demanded he turn life360 back on at college. D25 insists on life360 because tracking ME calms her anxiety.
Whats worked best for us is basically the “what happens in fight club stays in fight club” approach. Which is, I don’t talk or mention their locations. Ever. They know I have it. They just feel its creepy to feel watched by their mom.
We all have location sharing turned on for each other in Google Maps, but that’s just so that we can know how close someone is if they’re on the way to pick us up.
I seriously don’t have time to track my kids’ movements, but even if I did I don’t understand what the return on effort would be—somebody explain it to me, please.
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