Words of Wisdom For Our College Bound Children (and Kindergardeners)

My fingers are running over the computer keys, wondering where to begin. 

I can hear Aron our 18 year old and Jacob our 12 year old murmuring together. Their words are not clear, but the filtering sounds are upbeat and conversational as they rise and fall in sync and at times are spotted with laughter. The two boys are inseparable at the moment, playing Minecraft together, strategizing, building, challenging, but mostly enjoying each other's company.

This scenario is particularly heartwarming, because in a few days Aron is going to college and Jacob will be home alone. (No other siblings to divert parental attention anymore.) 

Each of us is dealing with this impending separation differently.....

Parent Alert: Your Mother was Right

It's a particularly grey, bleak London day here in Potomac Maryland. The dirty white sky and naked tree branches set off against it, look mournful and resigned. 

The streets are empty and I am curled up in our living room trying to write a blog post. 

There are many things I could tell you about.

Boys and Their Bedrooms

   

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Please note that you can use the links to Amazon on the right hand side of this blog to find out more details about any of the books I reference in my blog posts.

For as long as I can remember, since I stumbled upon the Zits cartoons in the Washington Post, I have thought they were drawn in response to observing my family of boys. They center on a teenager called Jeremy, his stay at home mom and dentist dad. If you are a parent or grandparent to boys or have brothers, nephews, boyfriends, fathers or messy, procrastinating, constantly hungry, teenage daughters then you will relate to this series. If you have toddlers or tweens be warned these comic strips are a hint at things to come!

The Power of Passion

  This past weekend our middle son Aron received his EMT certification. An EMT is an Emergency Medical Technician who works on an ambulance and fire truck.  It is a process that began eleven months ago, when Aron joined the Rockville Volunteer  Fire Department.  He has volunteered at the fire station and on the ambulance  every Wednesday night after school until 11.00pm, juggling 11th grade schoolwork and his father’s illness and brain surgery.  He has  gone on  emergency calls from 5.00pm until 7.00am the next day, on Saturday nights and during  school breaks. He has attended calls to attempted suicide victims, car crashes and sick infants, fall and  stroke victims and a pregnant woman whose  water had broken. On top of that time commitment, he has also  completed 131 hours of classroom  training and 12 exams  to become a state of Maryland certified EMT.

In this age of helicopter parenting and being connected to our children 24/7 via phone, text, email and Facebook,  it came as quite  a shock to us, to wave Aron off,at the age of 16  into the belly of the local fire station.

Birthday In A Box

Today, February 27th is our oldest son, Benjy’s 19th birthday and the first birthday he has ever  celebrated away from home. In our house  we have a birthday ritual of cards, gifts and goodies set out on the kitchen table at breakfast time. So.. in order to assuage my maternal ache at being unable to celebrate with him in person, I am instituting a new custom for our family called “Birthday In A Box”. 


This replicates some of our home spun birthday traditions, but has been adapted for college life ( I did think briefly of climbing into the box myself since I  am only 5 feet tall but realized that this  might not be the coolest kind of surprise for a college freshman.)

I have packed it full of 3 things college students need;