Your Kids

[Atheist37]

What cool things have your kids been doing? Baseball? Won a scholarship? Met the Pope? Here's my adrenalin-addicted oldest boy at the track:

[NH Baritone]

I hope he's had training wheels installed in his knee-pads. Yikes!

I'm childless, but my dog took off after a porcupine last week. Luckily, he was leashed ... this time.

[whoosanightowl]

My daughter has just started a new job as a Patient Care Technician at the hospital in which she was born 22 years ago. She's completed over half of the courses toward her RN degree with flying colors, and will finish the program in about a year and a half, hopefully. As some of you already know, she was diagnosed several years ago with Bi-Polar (manic-depressive) Disorder-with voices (we've been assured however that it is not schizophrenia) and it's been a very difficult road for her, being hospitalized for weeks at a time every year. She's undergone two rounds of ECT, electro-convulsive therapy (shock treatments) to her brain, 12 times each. She's also battled with anorexia and obsessive compulsive disorder, but thankfully seems to be on top of those issues now. We are so proud of her achievements in the midst of all these problems, and are confident that she will finish the program and make a wonderful and compassionate nurse!
My 20 year old son is still trying to find his niche in life, working at a sub shop and taking a couple classes here and there. He's really smart, especially in math and science, but so far has been unwilling to apply himself toward anything that's not "fun". If he invested half the time towards his education that he does playing his video games, he'd be doing fantastic! But we have hope that he will soon mature, and start focusing on finding and setting an educational goal, then prioritizing his activities toward meeting it. He has to pay his own college expenses up front, but if he brings home an A or B, we'll reimburse him a portion of his tuition. That could be viewed as blackmail or bribery, but I call it giving him incentive to succeed!
Neither of them ride motorcycles, thankfully!

[Rian]

That's just wonderful about your daughter, Sue! She's had to battle through a lot that we just take for granted. I'm sure she'll have a compassion and an understanding for patients that some others just won't.

Along the same lines, nothing big, but I was very proud of our middle son on Monday. He's basically a congenital amputee (just little stumps for legs - he looks like an above-knee amputee). He gets around really well with his scooter or wheelchair, and when he's in a room, he just gets out and romps around the room on his hands and leggies. Anyway, his class has a class party at a miniature golf/roller coaster place, and we knew ahead of time that it probably wouldn't be too wheelchair-friendly. We decided to go and just see how it went (our usual mode for new places) and he would decide when to go and we'd just make it a fun day away from school anyway. It was worse than we thought as far as wheelchair access, and his friends were all running off all over the place to places we couldn't follow (hey, they're 5th graders), so he just decided that we'd leave after only about 15 minutes. His attitude was so good - he was clearly (and rightly) sad, but just decided to make the best of it. We picked up his favorite lunch, rented a video game he'd wanted to play for awhile, and just made our own vacation. He just had a great attitude throughout, and I was very proud of him. We've worked with him a lot on these types of things, and he's really taken it to heart and made it his own.

Oldest son - doing very well driving, but it's still nerve-wracking!!!! I ended up being behind him on the way to school today, and he did a great job. And he got his first job!

Daughter - battling through some difficult times well. I think the move has been hardest on her.


A37 - looks like fun! My oldest son would love that. Come to think of it, so would my daughter ... we have quads and we let her drive one for the first time a few weeks ago (she's almost 12). She's a real speed demon! (we always wear helmets)

[whoosanightowl]

Rian,
Good for your middle son for trying to keep a positive attitude even though he was obviously disappointed. That's got to be very difficult, especially as an adolescent because the whole fitting in with peers thing is so important during that time. My heart goes out to him. And what a challenge it's got to be for you too! Whoever thinks parenthood is easy, has never been a parent!
You're daughter is probably having the hardest time with the move because she's a girl, and girls are generally more sensitive and sentimental about things, not to mention dramatic. Plus at her age, she's going through puberty, and those hormones can sure cause emotions to go awry. Hang in there, sis, it will get easier in time. I'm sure you'll end up having as close a relationship with her as I now have with my daughter.
When my son had his drivers permit, my husband was the one who rode with him while he got his driving hours in, thankfully! It worked out well because hubby got son a temporary summer position where he works, so he got lots of experience driving every day to and from work! Well, within one month after getting his license, he got a ticket for speeding. The next month he was involved in an accident (his fault, but nobody was hurt). Since then he's done much better. Good luck to your son as well as whoever braves the passenger seat during the learning process! You did say you always wear helmets, right?!?

[Rian]

Rian,
Good for your middle son for trying to keep a positive attitude even though he was obviously disappointed. That's got to be very difficult, especially as an adolescent because the whole fitting in with peers thing is so important during that time. My heart goes out to him. And what a challenge it's got to be for you too! Whoever thinks parenthood is easy, has never been a parent!

No kidding!
He had another MRI today. Over the last 7 days, he has had a CT scan (1/2 hour) and two MRIs - first lasting 2 hrs, second going 3 hrs. It took a little longer than normal because he needs to take breaks - it's very uncomfortable for him lying on his back, and we had to prop up Frank and Bob (our names for his little leg stumps ) with pillows to help things out. But we made it through, and all the people there kept saying hello and talking to him (it was our 4th time there in a week) - he's just so friendly and sunny and funny.

You're daughter is probably having the hardest time with the move because she's a girl, and girls are generally more sensitive and sentimental about things, not to mention dramatic. Plus at her age, she's going through puberty, and those hormones can sure cause emotions to go awry. Hang in there, sis, it will get easier in time. I'm sure you'll end up having as close a relationship with her as I now have with my daughter.

She is definitely hormonal - in the last 6 months, her figure has totally changed, and her emotions ... wow! One reason that it's been hard is that the girl cousin across the street is really difficult. The boy cousins all get along great, but the girl ... well, we've pretty much had to just have some separation time. And that's just one issue for her, of several big ones. But we're helping her deal with them, and she and I pray for each other for help with our hasty tongues

When my son had his drivers permit, my husband was the one who rode with him while he got his driving hours in, thankfully! It worked out well because hubby got son a temporary summer position where he works, so he got lots of experience driving every day to and from work! Well, within one month after getting his license, he got a ticket for speeding. The next month he was involved in an accident (his fault, but nobody was hurt). Since then he's done much better. Good luck to your son as well as whoever braves the passenger seat during the learning process! You did say you always wear helmets, right?!?

I'm the one that did most of his training - we're very similar and do well together. It's really hard, though - you don't want to say too much, but you can only think "does he see that truck coming?" for so long before you GOTTA say something!

I've told him that the actual driving isn't so tough - it's the looking out for mistakes of other drivers and knowing how to react to them. Every time I'm in the car with him, I point at least one thing out - there's just so many new situations that come up that he hasn't experienced yet.

Your oldest son sounds similar to mine - very laid-back and loves fun. I think your tuition idea is a good one. At his age, you also might consider having him pay some rent, too, if he doesn't already. We're so wealthy as a nation that I think kids nowdays sometimes think they're entitled to things. I remind my oldest son that it's OUR cellphone, not HIS, since WE are paying for it, and we got it for US to know when he's out of football practice, etc. and so he can call us if he needs help. Also, he needs to pay for half of his auto insurance for the privilege of borrowing our car and driving it. At first, he really wanted the little 2007 Mazda truck we bought, but he gets the 1998 Olds instead. When he started getting upset about it, I reminded him that he was free to buy his own 2007 Mazda truck if he wanted to but that if he liked, he could borrow our Olds when it was free (for example, if one of our other cars is at the shop, we'd need it back). He's a good kid and has a very friendly, loving heart, but he's the type that would be happy playing video games all day, too. In fact, he's very hard to discipline, because you can take away every privilege he has and he's perfectly happy just hanging out in his room! *headdesk* But now that he's driving ... hehhehheh ... I've heard that taking away driving privileges is VERY effective ... I'll save that one up and hopefully will not have to use it, but we'll see.

[Atheist37]

My youngest boy has recently got his learner's permit for driving, so every morning on the way to school he gets a lesson. The other morning in the car we talked about how he spends too much time playing video games, and he quickly rattled off half a dozen benefits -- like learning to type fast, improved reading skill, logical thinking and planning, teamwork for online games, etc. He's earned better than a 3.5 GPA in high school after struggling around 1.8 through middle school, so that's a huge relief for us. And he has his first girl friend, although it seems more like a science experiment for him than an emotional connection. But with no sisters at home it's good for him to hang out with the other gender.

My middle son had a long rough patch, dropping out of high school, drug rehab, jail time, totalled his car, you name it. I don't want to jinx things, but it seems he's finally grown past those things. He earned his GED and is now in community college earning credits for a 4-year degree. He's very serious about it and dreams of being involved in video or film production. He's fallen madly in love and that also keeps his motivation high.

Overcoming adversity can be the most satisfying and uplifting thing a person can experience. Maybe that's why some people race motorcycles, they need to create an artificial adversity (fear and competition) to challenge them. But I think overcoming real-life struggles is something to be truly proud of, and gives inspiration and hope to others.

[lorryfach]

Mostly kicking and punching, as far as I can tell, but I can only tell so much while my kid is still internal. Tomorrow morning, we're getting a 4D ultrasound, though.

[whoosanightowl]

Mostly kicking and punching, as far as I can tell, but I can only tell so much while my kid is still internal. Tomorrow morning, we're getting a 4D ultrasound, though.

Awesome!! Technology has come a long way since I had my kids over 20 years ago!

[Shadrach]

my boy is almost 4, he enjoys playgrounds, ninja turtles, running fast, jumping off the couch (usually on top of his unsuspecting dad), spiderman, poking the dogs, coloring, learning the ABCs and keeping those monkeys away from his ball.

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