Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 292
February 15, 2019
The Day I Realized I Pushed My College Daughter Too Far
My daughter silently tears up in the back seat. I only notice because her voice cracks a little so I turn around. Her dad and I try to sound supportive while we plow her with questions about why she’s changing her college major, again. We’re failing miserably.
In the years since Taylor turned double digits, I can count on one hand the number of times I made her cry. The last was four years ago when I begged her over and over to at least apply to a stellar state university we recently visited....
February 14, 2019
How Not to Get Sucked Into The Rabbit Hole of Worry With Your College Kid
I wrote a very popular meme a few years ago that simply said,
I thought I used to ‘worry’ a lot when my kids were little. Then I had teenagers. You know what I would give right now to worry about nap times and sippy cups? Everything.
It was right at the time my firstborn went away to college, and aside from the fact my maternal emotions were predictably all over the “freak out” spectrum, frequently screaming things in my head like, “MY BABY IS LEAVING ME!” was the fact I now found myself...
“The Golden Girls” Taught Me All I Needed To Know About Raising Teens
Growing up, Saturday night prime time television shows were sacred in our house. My brothers and I would put on our pajamas, make popcorn in the air popper and crowd around on the floor while my parents settled in on the couch. I can still feel my teenaged brothers elbowing me to make room for their gangly legs as we watched Marla Gibbs on 227 and Sherman Helmsley on Amen.
But, my favorite part of the night was when The Golden Girls episode aired. From the moment I watched the first episode i...
February 13, 2019
This Valentine’s Day I Can’t Wait To Celebrate The Real Me
I celebrate my family on Valentine’s Day.
I take this itty-bitty heart-shaped cookie cutter that I have and I go mad with it. I stamp hearts out of watermelon and hearts out of their sandwiches. I heart stamp their toast in the morning, and I heart out their afternoon snack before I pack them in their backpacks.
I heart the entire house with red and white crepe paper streamers and heart notes taped to their bathroom mirror.
I celebrate them and heart them because before them I thought that...
February 12, 2019
Changing the Negative Stereotypes Around Skilled Work and Learning a Trade Starts With EVERYONE, Including YOU
There is a wall in my kitchen that I want taken down so, of course, like any other eager do it yourself-er, I watched a few episodes of Fixer Upper and was convinced I could easily demo it all by myself – like between lunch and dinner. But just in case I was wrong (and my construction skills were a bit over inflated), I asked my neighbor, a retired general contractor, to give me the low down on wall demo.
He looked at the wall for a few minutes, then looked at me and said, “You were going to...
The Importance Of Alone Time With My Teens
When I was younger, my mother would take me about once a month and let me spend a few hours however I wanted to. My activity of choice almost always involved going to the mall and indulging in some frozen yogurt, something my three sisters didn’t care that much about which was good since they were never invited—this was all about me and I loved it.
They got to choose their own special thing to do with my mother and it wasn’t long after this tradition started, we started calling this time spen...
10 Great Campuses With Unique Resources for Mental Health
If you’re a parent who’s been on a college tour in the past few years, there’s a good chance you know that student mental health is a hot topic, and many schools are scrambling to hire more counselors and provide additional resources as students are seeking help in greater numbers.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 75% of all mental health conditions begin by age 24, and one in five young adults will experience a mental health condition during college.
The latest fi...
Losing Paradise: My Teen And I During The Camp Fire
“You should look at the smoke behind your house,” my neighbor said while pointing. “You really should look.”
After a restless night’s sleep, I had woken up tired. My usually cheerful fifteen year old Sophia, who considered herself our “only child” now that her sister had left for college, woke up too late for breakfast, hated her outfit, and couldn’t find her shoes. She was frustrated, in tears, and I felt waves of impatience roll through me.
The carpool arrived and I walked Sophia out, gree...
February 11, 2019
A College “Fit” Can Be Perfect Until It Isn’t. And Then What?
When your child first starts searching for a college to attend, you quickly begin to hear the term “college fit.”
On one hand, the concept seems very black and white, because it is often defined using concrete categories such as school size, academic programs, cost, and location. A high school student can usually pick designations within these categories fairly easily to begin to narrow down their search.
It’s simple, for example, to find suitable schools if you do an online search or tell a...
My Teen Daughter Struggles With Imposter Syndrome And So Do I
“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and loved more than you know .”
I stare at the image of the silver key chain in my Amazon shopping cart and hit purchase, sending it as part of a Valentine’s care package to my daughter, a sophomore in college. I don’t know what magical powers I think this key chain has but I hope that it, along with the ridiculous stuffed bear and Valentine’s candy I included, would help her through the vicious loop of self-doub...
