<p>That would be Jan 6. So go have a read and get back to me! :D</p>
<p>What are we looking for? Well, one sobering article about student loans, and how the lenders use their extraordinary powers to go after deadbeats, including disabled and destitute former students. Unlike any other loan, you cannot discharge your obligation via personal bankruptcy, and they will even garnish disability checks. Borrower beware! </p>
<p>The other article claims that our children are over-coddled, and the real perceived age of adulthood in America is now approx 26! Parents micro-manage their children's lives through HS, then continue during college and beyond. Some of these poor kids at age 30 live at home and can't do anything for themselves. There is a description of a kid at home that sounded almost exactly like an earlier post on this forum, ie kid dropped out of college back at home sleeping on the couch all day, going out all night.</p>
<p>So find a copy and enjoy! Don't think the stories are available online without a paid subscription. Now look what I've done! I have created a dual topic thread. sorry.....</p>
<p>Thank god my daughter has been an adult since she was 12. She can travel and negotiate airports alone. She has successfully completed two summers of Ivy League college (age 15 and 16). She has selected and applied to all of her colleges without any help (or interference) from parents. She has driven herself to succeed in every way. Only one problem, she won't cook:)</p>
<p>For DD the statement reads My daughter has been an adult for 2/3rds of her waking hours since she was 12. The other 1/3rd, I'd say toddler. GS, I hope you are out there reading this ;).</p>
<p>Cangel, that was pretty funny and true I'm sure. Speaking of toddlerhood, with the D I was talking about, I recall back in toddlerhood, thinking, oh, this strong willed stuff is the so-called "terrible twos" and then when she turned 3, 4, 5, etc. I realized she was still that way and it was not the "terrible twos" but her personality! </p>
<p>Still I maintain that she is the type who you hear folks say, "she is 12, going on 30."</p>
<p>Bandit, speaking of airports, my 16 year old was allowed to fly including making connections over the holidays. In both directions, to no fault of her own, connections were missed, involving negotiating on her own, being stuck for the night, being in Philadephia with the mess you have read about with USAirways, etc. </p>
<p>We flew USAir out of Philly on New Year's Day and noticed that most of the passengers arrived with the intention of putting their luggage in the overhead bins. I assume that they wanted to prevent the delayed or lost luggage that happened to so many people over Christmas weekend. On New Year's Day everything seemed under control but I knew of people who had still not gotten their luggage back from a Christmas weekend trip more than a week after.</p>
<p>Ellen, my daughter was making a connection (well missing it) in Phila. International New Year's Day and had to spend the night. She also did not get her luggage the next day but has it now. She had problems going through Philly on XMas eve as well and almost had to spend the night that time too. Was not a great experience but she handled it well. I feared some problems but they were greater than I imagined. I was dealing with this on one leg when I was home in VT and then the way home, I was dealing with it from CA !</p>
<p>I have to say that her dealings with USAir were not that great and they were definitely not polite to her in any way from the way she tells it, on top of her being a kid traveling alone. Not that worth getting into. But yes, I have heard about the luggage deals with folks waiting a week to get it both in Philly and even here in VT too. Thankfully she has hers now. The luggage was truly the least of it for her. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>PS, she had flown alone many times but never with connections but we let her, in part knowing that I have a brother in Philly in case she was stuck there and she almost was on the first leg and then she was on the way back but ended up staying at boyfriend's house in Philly suburbs that time. ;-)</p>
<p>We caught just the edge of that mess. D flew American through Chicago. Plane was late getting in. Fortunately, the last plane to DFW was late as well, and she got the last seat. She got into Dallas at 2:00am Christmas Eve, bags made at 10:00pm. Because of where she lives, we almost always have connections. Non-stop back to JH after New Years thank goodness.</p>
<p>Luckily for my son, he traveled from Philadelphia airport on Jan 3 when USAir was bending over backwards to be nice. He had a bag that weighted over 75 pounds and another heavy one too, but they only made him pay $25 extra which was fine with him since his ticket was free (frequent flyer) and he would have had to ship the stuff otherwise. I am very glad that he was not delayed in returning to college (Stanford) as he had been away during the fall quarter and had a massive amount of stuff to take care of when he returned. I would have been extremely upset if he got caught up in the overnight delay mess.</p>