Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 382

What This Mom Learned About Grown Sons May Surprise You

I’ve read a lot about what it’s like to have little boys. As a mother of three sons I can attest to the fact that they are certainly interesting creatures and there is indeed much to say about them; how they love mud puddles and wreaking havoc. Their boundless energy and love of games and all things that involve balls. How snuggly they are. What it’s like to clean up after them, and feed them and love them and figure out how their brains work. But what happens after those little boys grow up?...

10 Pieces of Advice From a Dog to His College Boy

The morning you are leaving your home to deliver a child to start college, is never a calm and peaceful endeavor. Whether you are getting into a car for an hour drive, a six-hour drive, or a 20-minute trip to an airport, where you’ll then board a plane – your car is jammed pack full of baggage:  both the physical and emotional kind.

[Read Next: 5 Not So Nice Wishes For Your College Freshman]

Coffee must be guzzled, perhaps a protein bar thrown into a backpack, and a double checking of apps t...

What This Senior Wants You to Know About the Last Year of High School

This week is my last first week of high school. As I enter senior year, I am struck by an overwhelming feeling. The stress of college applications, SAT/ACT scores, and getting solid first semester grades causes me to think about ways to make myself and my life a little less flustered. Here are some tips that are helping me start senior year in the right mindset and will hopefully help your teen too!

5 Tips to Help Your Senior During Their Last Year of High School 1. Make a calendar

There are...

Late to the Party: When You are Scrambling for Your College-Bound Kid

“Mom.  I’ve decided that I want to play baseball in college.  It’s my dream.”

This came out of my rising senior son’s mouth, early this summer, after his first few games with his new Legion baseball team.  This was not the plan.

I am a planner ahead-er.  Especially when it comes to my children.  So throughout my son’s high school career, I’ve gently teased out ideas of what college might look like for him.  What his dream would be.  The long and short of it was this:  A big school with gr...

This New College Football Tradition Will Make You Cry

We love sports traditions and love all the rah-rah that goes with college games. But the University of Iowa Hawkeyes’ new college football tradition is one of the best.

Shown on this video, you can see fans at the end of the first quarter giving a very special wave to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital that sits right next to the stadium.  As the kids gather by the window overlooking the game. The capacity crowd of the stadium which seats over 70,000 stand in unison sending love up to...

Freshmen and Parents: Do They Know Each Other, at All?!?

Lehigh University has a tradition of shooting a whimsical video as school begins and this year they turned the camera on parents and their newly-minted freshmen. Each parent-child pair was given a set of questions that they answered on whiteboards and were filmed as they revealed and compared their answers and reactions.

According to Amy White, Associate Director of Media Relations, Lehigh wanted to “do a video that tapped into parent-student relationships at this pivotal time of college mov...

How to NOT be the Most Embarrassing Mom of the Day

My daughter is about to begin her freshman year of college, a time fraught with dizzying highs and anxious lows. It got here so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we went on her first college tour. (Not, by the way to the school she ended up picking).

I remember it like it was yesterday….“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said. No sentence that begins with those six words is ever going to end well. Bracing myself, I waited for what my daughter would say next. “But could you try to you k...

How Not to be the Most Embarrassing Mom of the Day

My daughter is about to begin her freshman year of college, a time fraught with dizzying highs and anxious lows. It got here so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we went on her first college tour. (Not, by the way to the school she ended up picking).

I remember it like it was yesterday….“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she said. No sentence that begins with those six words is ever going to end well. Bracing myself, I waited for what my daughter would say next. “But could you try to you k...

THIS is the Single Biggest Enemy All Freshmen Face

I think college students would agree that everything in our lives thus far has boiled down a series of competitions. And college is no different.  I’m sure you’re thinking, “Well yeah, I’m competing with my classmates for internships and grades” and while that is true, I’m thinking competition in a different sense.

Let me rephrase it:

It is a brawl. College is a full-fledged, battle-to-the-death, brawl between you, your time and all your activities.

 

With great freedom comes great responsib...

Kid in Their Room All Day? Why Teens Crave Privacy

It’s almost two o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and I’ve hardly seen my 13-year-old son. He slept in later than me, then I headed out for a run. When I returned home he let me know he had taken out the dogs and the trash, then he headed back up to his room. About fifteen minutes later I heard the shower running. And about an hour after that, he came down to make himself lunch. I can hear him walking around in his room, I hear his music, I hear drawers slamming, but I have no idea what he is doi...