Lisa Endlich's Blog, page 439

There IS Life After College

When our kids are accepted to college it is easy to feel a sigh of relief that they are on their way. But these are the life’s four quickest years and it soon becomes clear that finding life after college is dependent on so many choices students make in and out of the classroom, starting with the choice of which college to attend.

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Jeffrey Selingo, author of the new There Is Life After College: What Parents and Students Should Know About Navigating School to Prepare for the J...

“I’m Going to College – Not You!”

When my eldest son was getting ready to go to college I felt a little bit as though I was losing my mind. The thought of him walking out the door and calling a new place home was so painful that, although I was excited for him, I felt engulfed in pain and fear.

It turns out, I was not alone. Reading through the searingly funny and poignant pages of Jennifer Delahunty’s edited essay collection, I’m Going to College—Not You!: Surviving the College Search with Your Child,it soon becomes clear th...

My Empty Nest is the Best of Both Worlds

I have the best of both worlds. I spend the week in my empty nest and my 21-year-old daughter comes home from university nearly every weekend. She has the attraction of a boyfriend who lives down the road from me but I don’t care why she comes – I just care that she comes.

In the week, I love the fact that I have the house to myself. I enjoy waking up to complete silence in the mornings. After my shower, I walk around draped in a towel and take leisurely sips of my first cup of tea as I get...

High School Senior Year: Wishing For a Little More Time

Raise your hand if you remember how it felt to wish time away. If you’re the parent of a high school senior, I bet it’s hard. But you did at one point. You wished for the day when you wouldn’t have diapers to change or didn’t have to cut food up into a jillion miniscule pieces. You wished for the day you could go on vacation without packing enough equipment to open a Babies R Us.

As much as the thought of your child driving terrified you, you wished she was old enough to drive herself to pra...

The 5 Promises I Make to My Teenage Son

Here’s what the mom of a teenage son promises him. Filled with wisdom and love, these promises transcend parenting styles.

Among other things, my 15-year-old has three tests today which translates into the kind of stress that makes a 15-year-old irritable and cranky, and because his internal clock tells him that he should be sleeping until noon, it’s challenging for him to get his shit together by 7AM. It’s not surprising then that this morning he forgot his tennis racket at home. I’m about t...

True Confessions of a College Essay Coach

I’m trying to be patient as I wait for a stack of emails from thirteen high school seniors to appear in my in box. In the next few weeks they will make their final decisions about where to attend college. These students are my clients; last fall they sat at my dining room table and I coached them as they wrote their college essays. When they don’t contact me to share their news, I’m furious and hurt.

I’m also embarrassed because I understand what’s going on here; My own nest is empty so I’m...

Talking to My Grown Kids All the Time is NOT Over Parenting

Recently I have seen and texted my kids a bit more than usual. I am not sure why this has occurred. It seems that the gods of parenthood have just been kind to me in the last couple of weeks. Even in the face of this unalloyed gift I began to wonder if this was a good thing for them. Am I talking to my kids too much? Was I impinging on their lives? Was my more frequent presence impacting their independence?

And then I got a grip on myself.

Helicoptering isn’t how much you talk to your kids,...

Autism Spectrum: A Parent Primer for the College Years

Parents of students on the autism spectrum are already used to things being different. Whether their sons or daughters have trouble with social interaction or connecting with peers, organization or academics — adapting is a necessary part of parenting these often gifted, sometimes challenging individuals.

So why should the college search be any different? With 1 in 68 children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) more high-functioning, academically achieving students are applying...

The “Floordrobe:” True Confessions from the Walk-On Closet

I feel like I know you. You are a good parent. You provide unconditional love and occasional boundaries. You cook now and then. Maybe you even over help your kids with the laundry. And when the going gets tough, you come to Facebook – not so much for help and encouragement, but to see people failing worse than you, so you can get through another day feeling smug and successful. I get you. I am you.

So I know that as we pose with our kids and share their smiling photos on Facebook, many of us...

Graduation Book Ideas: Favorites and New Releases

Choosing a graduation gift requires some imaginative shopping. If you’re thinking of ways to celebrate the accomplishments of your son or daughter, consider these graduation book ideas as congratulatory send offs to college or to the real world. Don’t forget to take the time to add a few lines of love of your own. When your homesick college freshman or frustrated young adult reaches for one of these books in their dorm or first apartment, the words you will have written may matter the most.

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