Life is all kinds of whacky right now, and I'm not sure what to make of it, much less what to say about it. But I'll give it the old college try.
College. That's kinda what's making life whacky. Getting ready for it, I mean. Convincing the parents that he's ready for it, that is.
Adam graduated high school on Thursday night. Do you know what that means? It's the first step up the adulthood ladder, the beginning of the end of parental oversight. It's the point where the parents take a serious look at their offspring and decide whether they've adequately prepared their child for the adventure that is Life, the Universe, and Everything (hint: the answer is "42").
Intellectually and academically, he may be ready. But I'm not so sure about the rest. Is he disciplined enough? Has he experienced enough of Life to be able to handle whatever comes up? Is he ready to face the harsh realities of this existance?
The first eighteen years have been relatively easy. He's had parents to watch over his every move and take care of his every need.
His next step is going to be difficult, given the fact that he's never worked a day in his life. For pay, I mean. That is, he's never had a job other than the ones given to him by his mother or me. He's never had a boss who wasn't family. He's never earned a paycheck. He's never had to support himself. (We tried to teach him to budget his money, but that's difficult when there is no real money coming in.) He's never been more than a few minutes away from someone who could rush to his aid if he ever needed it.
So can he handle things on his own?
He was having a great deal of difficulty finding employment in this part of the country, which isn't a surprise given the state of the economy. Or the economy of the state. Sure, he filled out applications and talked to hiring managers. But there's a lot of people out here in Michigan looking for work, and I'm not talking just the high school seniors or the college-aged; I'm talking the older ones who are trying to feed their families and pay the mortgage. That's stiff competition.
Meanwhile, it occurred to me that this would be a great opportunity for him to get to know his paternal grandparents close up and personal, so I made good on half a promise I'd made years ago, to send the boys down to Texas for the summer so they could pick up their grandfather's carpentry skills. (Well, I'm sending them one of the two boys, so that makes good on half the promise, right?)
Consequently, Adam was packed and ready to go by mid-morning Saturday. He rode away in the little red rental car with his grandparents, off on his own little adventure.
I hope he has fun and learns a lot, and takes advantage of the opportunity to ask his grandparents lots of questions, the kind I didn't get a chance to ask until my own were well on in years.
And he comes back ready to buckle down and face the future that is "college".
College. That's kinda what's making life whacky. Getting ready for it, I mean. Convincing the parents that he's ready for it, that is.
Adam graduated high school on Thursday night. Do you know what that means? It's the first step up the adulthood ladder, the beginning of the end of parental oversight. It's the point where the parents take a serious look at their offspring and decide whether they've adequately prepared their child for the adventure that is Life, the Universe, and Everything (hint: the answer is "42").
Intellectually and academically, he may be ready. But I'm not so sure about the rest. Is he disciplined enough? Has he experienced enough of Life to be able to handle whatever comes up? Is he ready to face the harsh realities of this existance?
The first eighteen years have been relatively easy. He's had parents to watch over his every move and take care of his every need.
His next step is going to be difficult, given the fact that he's never worked a day in his life. For pay, I mean. That is, he's never had a job other than the ones given to him by his mother or me. He's never had a boss who wasn't family. He's never earned a paycheck. He's never had to support himself. (We tried to teach him to budget his money, but that's difficult when there is no real money coming in.) He's never been more than a few minutes away from someone who could rush to his aid if he ever needed it.
So can he handle things on his own?
He was having a great deal of difficulty finding employment in this part of the country, which isn't a surprise given the state of the economy. Or the economy of the state. Sure, he filled out applications and talked to hiring managers. But there's a lot of people out here in Michigan looking for work, and I'm not talking just the high school seniors or the college-aged; I'm talking the older ones who are trying to feed their families and pay the mortgage. That's stiff competition.
Meanwhile, it occurred to me that this would be a great opportunity for him to get to know his paternal grandparents close up and personal, so I made good on half a promise I'd made years ago, to send the boys down to Texas for the summer so they could pick up their grandfather's carpentry skills. (Well, I'm sending them one of the two boys, so that makes good on half the promise, right?)
Consequently, Adam was packed and ready to go by mid-morning Saturday. He rode away in the little red rental car with his grandparents, off on his own little adventure.
I hope he has fun and learns a lot, and takes advantage of the opportunity to ask his grandparents lots of questions, the kind I didn't get a chance to ask until my own were well on in years.
And he comes back ready to buckle down and face the future that is "college".
2 comments:
and I can tell you one thing, your son knows how to work and my yard will prove it.
Like most of us, he will work hard when properly motivated. The trick is to find a good motivation for those jobs which are not always fun or pleasant or fulfilling with regard to individual goals. I'm just happy he gets to spend time with his grandparents and extended family for awhile before diving into the life-within-a-life that is college.
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