Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 319

What It Feels Like When Your Teen Pulls Away

My daughter sits at the kitchen island eating cake with a fork. There’s an empty bag of chips next to her laptop and she’s doing math homework. I ask her how it’s going even though I know she can barely hear me through her headphones.

She nods, which is teen speak for “good” and checks her phone the second it starts buzzing.

I start emptying the dishwasher and think about when she used to sit on the open door while I was emptying it. I’d be putting away the silverware and she’d crawl on the d...

Up Your Sneaker Game – the 5 Rules

NY Fashion Week street style was all about the sneaker. Everyone looked so rock star, super confident, ready to take on the world. I’m definitely upping my sneaker game this fall and I’m going to follow these 5 rules.

 

We receive compensation from purchases made through the links but the opinions are our own. 

First rule – Even though chunky sneakers are ironically in style (Thanks no thanks Balenciaga and Gucci), I still believe my shoes should not look like I’m actually going to be runnin...

Disney College Program: How Your Teen Can Work at Disney for College Credit

Everyone knows that some college students study abroad in foreign countries around the world, while earning an undergraduate degree, and many spend their summers interning for companies large and small, to gain valuable work experience before graduation.

But did you know that students in the Disney College Program can apply to earn a paid, semester-long internship and receive course credits at one of two very magical places right here in the U.S. – the Disney World and Disneyland Resorts in O...

A Letter to Every College Freshman on Finding Your People

Dear College Freshman,

I see you. Even though you’re sure no one does right now, I see you.

I know you’re feeling pretty invisible walking around your still-brand-new campus and your new dorm and sitting in your new classes, like no one even knows you’re there, but I see you. I know you’re there.

I know that you’re struggling to find your groove and your people and how you fit in and it feels like it’s taking forever or that it may never happen at all, and I know that sucks.

And I’m sorry. Be...

Dad Never Said “I Love You.” He Wasn’t Like That

You’ve heard the saying, “you never know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”  To me it was just a saying, that is, until my dad died.

My dad moved his family to Minnesota for a better job before I was born. And although my parents never liked the winters, they somehow made it work. Fast forward 40 years. With Dad retired and the kids moved out, one day they decide they’re moving to Arizona.

I hated their decision. I have my own kids now, a job, a mortgage, I can’t afford to haul my family across...

How I Fooled Myself about My Daughter’s Drinking Problem in College

My daughter developed a serious drinking problem in college which escalated to full-blown chronic alcoholism within a few years after graduation. After a hospitalization where she was taken by ambulance after experiencing violent withdrawal symptoms – trying to stop drinking on her own (which became a life threatening situation) she was finally willing to get professional inpatient help.

Over the past 12 months, my beautiful and bright 24 year-old daughter has been on a journey of healing and...

What G&F Parents LOVE and Want to Share: Recommendation Sunday

Every Sunday morning, hundreds (thousands?) of us sit patiently sipping coffee with our Amazon carts ready, waiting for the Grown and Flown Parents Recommendation Sunday thread to start.  Here’s a big H/T to Susan Cambest Houser, whose genius idea it was to create this phenomenon. It’s an amazing place to discover great shows to watch, snacks to buy, experiences, books…whatever we’ve loved and want to share with our friends.

Here are some of the top things people loved last week:

September 23...

Here’s To You, The Friends We Need and Love

Parenting is not for the faint of heart.

There are hundreds of thousands of pages written on how to parent, from the famed Dr. Spock, to the “What To Expect…” book series. Then there are the television segments with pediatricians who tout the latest and greatest expert methods of surviving childhood like Ferberizing and 1, 2, 3 Magic.

But what got us through this journey were our friends, all of them. They were really the only experts we needed and they were at our side when we failed and whe...

Family Weekend: How to Plan Your Campus Visit

We want to thank Capital One for sponsoring this post.

Family Weekend seems so simple. The college schedules the date, you show up, see your kid, maybe take in a football game, a dinner with the roommates and then repeat the far less teary goodbye than the one you said just a month ago.

Wrong.

Family Weekend is now an EVENT, complete with two or three days of crammed schedules, packed college towns and expensive game tickets. So let’s rewind the tape and take a look at some of the planning th...

Before You Yell At The Teen Behind The Cash Register, Consider This

Over the summer, Hubby and I traveled several hundred miles by car with our two teenagers in tow. And, because I’m a sucker for milkshakes and fries while we are on the open road, we consumed a lot of fast food while we were vacationing.

In one establishment in a one stoplight, rural town, we had, on the surface, terrible service. We waited over 25 minutes for two burgers, some chicken nuggets, fries and sodas.

We were tired; we were not expecting to have to wait so long for “fast” food. And,...