Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 434
June 18, 2016
Health Care for College Kids: How to Prepare for Freshman Year
For those sending kids to college in the fall, this summer brings the delicate dance of relinquishing key responsibilities to our children, including caring for their health. A properly stocked first aid kit is a must, but there is also some planning that can be done ahead of time to smooth the medical bumps your teen will inevitably need to navigate on her own. From one mom who just weathered freshman year with her daughter six hours away, here is a primer on some of the relevant health care...
June 17, 2016
Skin Cancer: How to Explain the Risk of Sun Exposure to Teens
To my teenage daughters: skin cancer is very real.
Ok, I baby-oiled. I’ll admit it. As a teenager, if I didn’t come home from the beach with a sunburn, I was disappointed. I cringe to think my daughters will read this now. In my defense, we didn’t know nearly as much as we know today about skin cancer. And, honestly, sunscreen use was not widespread back then. Even still, we were stupid…and we knew it. Why do you think I hid my sunburns from my father?
Fast forward 25 years and I’m paying th...
June 16, 2016
10 Questions Parents of Teens are Tired of Hearing
In a few weeks, my youngest child will turn 13. This means I will officially be the mom of teenagers and only teenagers.While I’m processing all this, I keep running across posts like “10 Things Never to Say to the Mom of a Newborn” and “What Not to Say to a New Parent.”
On behalf of my fellow parents of teenagers, I’d like to say I’d be fine if I never heard any of these classics again:
Yes, it can...
Why You Shouldn’t Pressure Your Kid to Go to College
Those of you with kids in high school probably have college on the brain. You want your kids to be successful and happy, but there is a chance their idea of successful and happy and your idea might be a little different. You want them to go to college, but with the pressures they feel in high school, maybe that’s the last thing they want to do right now. I’m here to tell you that the best way to support your kids is to not pressure them to go to college; it may be what ultimately gets them in...
June 14, 2016
The Crab Man Was Right: How I Learned to Let Go
I pressed the cell phone to my ear, even though I knew it would do little to improve the overseas connection.
“It was cholera,” my daughter Nina said.
“Cholera?” I repeated, hoping I hadn’t heard right.
“I’m fine now, Mommyo” she said, unfazed, her voice upbeat as she described the lime/salt concoction that nurses had given her. In spite of that setback, Nina fell in love with Cameroon, the host country for most of my daughter’s sophomore year in college. She picked up the language quickly an...
June 13, 2016
College Checklist: The Most Popular Freshman Dorm Extras
College is expensive and getting kids ready for school can be a strain on any budget. We have looked at the basics that are on each college checklist to see what every student needs, the items most teens cannot live without. Here is a look at a few extras. If your budget can stretch to it, here are items students love and use all year long.
Our Favorite Dorm Extras to Add to Your Freshman’s College Checklist 1. Amazon Prime StudentThis is our favorite college extra because it is FREE (first...
June 12, 2016
The Question That Helped Our Son Come Out
My son Nick recently had an appointment to take his senior high school photos. Since He’s been driving for nearly a year, and seldom wants my company or advice, I figured he’d get himself to the portrait studio. Until he texted me at my office the day before, in the late afternoon.
“You’re coming with me tomorrow, right?”
“No,” I responded, slightly annoyed at the interruption. “I have to work”.
“I think parents are supposed to come,” he texted back. A bell went off.
“Are you nervous?”
Senio...
The Right Questions
My son Nick recently had an appointment to take his senior high school photos. Since He’s been driving for nearly a year, and seldom wants my company or advice, I figured he’d get himself to the portrait studio. Until he texted me at my office the day before, in the late afternoon.
“You’re coming with me tomorrow, right?”
“No,” I responded, slightly annoyed at the interruption. “I have to work”.
“I think parents are supposed to come,” he texted back. A bell went off.
“Are you nervous?”
Senio...
June 11, 2016
10 Essential Things About Sex I Want My Daughters to Know
Dear Daughters,
I know the last thing you want me to talk to you about is sex, and while that is the primary reason for this letter, let me assure you that this is about so much more than that.
I am under no illusion that you want details of my past sexual experiences and, frankly, I don’t want to know about yours, either. I do want to encourage you to think a lot about what sex means to you and I want you to understand 10 important things.
I know that I could abandon this talk and just hope...
June 10, 2016
How to Create a College List That Will Save Your Family Money
Summer’s here and it’s time for rising seniors to begin application essays, plan campus visits and refine their college list. Schools that will make the cut will have the right academic fit, location, reputation and campus culture. Unfortunately, many students – and their parents – wait until it is too late to consider one of the most important variables, “financial fit.”
Families sometimes make the big mistake of talking about finances at the end of the process in the Spring when the financ...
