We went last summer with our teens. Their favorite by far was seeing a Broadway show, followed by dinner and cheesecake at Juniors. We got a City Pass, and it was worth it for us. The flexibility of the hop on hop off buses and the prepaid admission was great. We even enjoyed the cheesy tour guides on the buses. Some were downright entertaining. I wish we had spent more time at the Met and less at the Guggenheim. We also enjoyed the Natural History Museum. I also wish we had gone to Grand Central Terminal. I second the warnings about the girls (and guys) in Times Square, but what got me were the men dressed in super hero costumes that kept cat-calling my 15 year old daughters :glare:

Our college textbooks infuriate me. We often have custom editions that are updated each year. Or some online access code that rules out buying used. I think the one that rankled me the most this year was my $135 text for my management class. It is LOOSE LEAF, and so poorly edited that it is distracting. But hey, they have cool graphics in text lingo to introduce a topic :glare: .

People creasing paper. It is the sound a paper cut makes. :ack2: I'm sitting here with chill bumps on my arms because I had to think about it just to type it out. Obviously, the *thought* of getting a paper cut. (however, if I manage to actually GET a paper cut, the cut itself doesn't phase me...it is just the thought of the actual event) Roaches. I am generally un-fazed by bugs of all sorts, but I had a very unfortunate incident with roaches as a young teen that traumatized me.

Wow. Just...yeah. I'm done. I'm obviously too southern redneck to comprehend the situation. Thanks for the heads up.

That is an unreasonable comparison. Believe me, I value human life as much as the next person. This was awful. But I'm not going to pretend that if that boy made up his mind to kill that girl, that locking up a shotgun would have made one ounce of difference. This wasn't an accidental shooting. This was cold-blooded, thought out murder. The gun was just the tool (out of MANY available to him) that he chose to use to carry it out.

*donning the flameproof suit* It was a shotgun. It is TN. It is not uncommon for shotguns to be unlocked here. I lay the blame more on the parenting of the kid than the accessibility of the gun. IMO, an 11 year old should be more than capable of using a gun responsibly. Many, many kids his age do. Hunting, target shooting, etc. He could have just as easily picked up a knife and attacked her with it. It is a horrible, awful tragedy. However, what should be investigated is what happened to this 11 year old to make him feel like killing someone.

I work in a place where I see a lot of transcripts and ACT scores. That combo wouldn't raise a flag at all. I've seen a lot of 3.5+ GPAs come through with ACT scores in the mid 20s. The ones that make me raise my eyebrows are the 3.59 GPAs with a 15 ACT score.

Yes, two. One is the Pillsbury doughboy and I've had it for 20 years. The kids fight over who gets it when I die..lol. The other is a giant strawberry.

It did/does for mine. Ours is an inclusive drop-off co-op that is run like a one day private school. The teachers are paid, and are usually degreed in their subject. My kids have taken most of their lab science and all of their foreign language there. They also take electives like ballroom dance and fencing. They've made some great friends through co-op, and those friendships have lasted beyond high school for my oldest. The classes have been great, and provided a better education in those subjects than I could provide at home. We've been part of other co-ops that we ended up dropping due to disorganization, or non-inclusiveness. They ended up not being worth our time, money, and stress.

Never age out. There reached a point at which I was done with carting them all over creation TO t-o-t, but it had nothing to do with their age. If they are willing to dress up and be respectful of people, it doesn't matter to me how old they are. One of my kids best Halloween memories ever was when they dressed up with around 10 of their teen friends (ages 12-18) and roamed our neighborhood t-o-ting. They were respectful, watched out for little ones, and didn't cause trouble. No one seemed to mind. We did have a few parents walk around with them, just in case someone tried to give them a hard time, but it really was never an issue.

I agree with the PP. Make them help with the mess and institute quiet time. My kids did age appropriate chores from the time they could walk. We also had mandatory quiet time. When they were very small, it was nap time. As they got older they were just required to do something quietly in their room (read, play with dolls, etc.). It gave me a much needed break during the day. And for us, rainy, stuck-inside days were perfect for popcorn and a movie (or two).

My oldest has this issue too, as do I. Neither of us have an official diagnosis, but we have the symptoms of ADD. Protein does help a lot. And sleep when we can get it (my oldest in particular has a hard time sleeping though). She had a spectacular example of this yesterday. She is in college full time, works 20+ hours a week, tries to volunteer at a raptor rescue once a week, and this week a friend/co-worker passed away in an accident. Yesterday after school she stopped by where I work and you could see in her face that she was mentally toast. Her words were "I have to go home and not think for a while". I was trying to explain to her how to defrost some brats when she got home, and it just wasn't processing AT ALL. (Something she's done many times before) She just needs to recharge for a bit. I personally get decision overload. It gets to the point that I'm almost in tears just trying to get through the grocery store. That is when I realize I need a brain break, and I usually hole up in my bedroom with Netflix or sleep.

Outsourcing happens here for one of two reasons: 1. I don't feel I can do the subject justice and 2. the kids want the group experience. Classes that happen because of #1: Foreign Language, Music, and some higher math. Classes that happen because of #2: Lab science, dance, etc. Our senior year is almost all DE classes for a third reason, in combination with the first two: They can get a grant that pays for up to 12 credit hours of community college. I could get by and check boxes by doing everything entirely at home. However, I feel like their education is greatly benefited by outsourcing some subjects.

Yes. However, most shampoos make me itch and cause sores on my scalp. I'm currently using Head and Shoulders because I ran out of my homemade shampoo bar and my head is paying the price. My daughters have issues with Pantene as well.

Well, one of my daughters made a roasted chicken, with potatoes, onions and carrots. Unfortunately, it did not get put into the oven soon enough and was no where near ready by the time they needed to eat to leave for church. So, we all had an assortment of frozen burritos and Amy's dishes..lol. The chicken is finally finished cooking and is now cooling nicely on the stove. Guess what's for dinner tomorrow?

Your daughter sounds very much like mine, down to the library books. She had horrible time management skills all through high school. Now she is in community college full time and doing just fine. She is learning, the hard way sometimes, how to keep up with her assignments. She is much more motivated to do the work now that she is taking classes SHE wants to take. She also works part time at a library, which is the job she has always wanted. Anyway, I don't think she would have done well at all going away to college this year, so community college has been great for her scatter brained self. She is maturing a lot.

ETA: I'm on my phone and apparently my reading skills are suffering. She IS a senior. I wouldn't do it. Is she a senior or a junior? If she is a senior, she should stay put, IMO. This close to graduation isn't a good time to shift gears. If she is a junior, and can easily meet state requirements for graduation over the next 18 months, then it might be a good thing. She could dual enroll next semester or even next year and get some college under her belt before graduation. I would not, however, pull her out and then rely heavily on her as a baby sitter. It'll backfire.

It is very possible. Even more so if you have a non-working spouse can help run things at home. I'm back in school full time, working part-time, and running teens all over the country side. It is exhausting, but satisfying. Your bachelor's gives you a big leg up. Credits can carry, even from 20 years ago. You may have to take some classes over to update for your new major or Master's program, but the general ed stuff should still be good. (I have credits from 20 years ago that are still usable). Good luck!

I wouldn't think so. Most of the colleges around here are really only looking for one or the other, with some only wanting ACT scores. ETA: Mine have only taken the ACT.

Yep, that is exactly what it looked like. Thankfully, they DO fade with time, but that doesn't console a freaked out teen very much.

Talk with them and LISTEN without correcting. Save the corrections for later, AFTER the conversation about xyz happens. Get to know them as people. Let them see you are human and that you make mistakes. Let them see you forgive others. Know that hormones make them stupid. They will make brainless decisions, forget things they've known for years, and do things without even knowing why they did them. Talk about all the hard things, and often. Sex, drugs, dating, violence, religion, money, politics...the conversations need to be had, and they need to be comfortable having them with you. Don't forget to have fun with them and laugh. Oh, and the one weird random thing I wish I'd known...some kids grow so fast that they get very large stretch marks on their torso. It freaked my girls out a bit and I had no clue it could happen. Your daughter gets a little upset and self-conscious when she develops red ladder marks up her back.

Not really. I miss the idea of them. The reality was one of the hardest things I've ever done. My oldest was 3 when the twins were born, and I spent most of their younger years doing it all mostly alone. Tough. I used to think I'd like to do it all again...have another baby. Now, I'm thinking that grandkids that can go home at the end of the visit will be really, really nice. I love my teens. It is hard too, but in a different way. I like the people they've become and they are generally a pleasure to parent.

Oh my word. The ignorance in the comment section is astonishing.

I'm sorry. We've been through this several times over the years. 12-15 year old girls are the worst about doing this to one another. We've left a church because of it. (and also because the youth director was doing nothing to encourage growth and fellowship among his group) We go to a church with a great youth director, and this still happened. Our church is fairly large. Because they didn't go to school with these kids it was very hard to get "noticed". Age has helped some, but my girls have also learned to be very proactive. They had to make a point to walk up to people and talk. They got involved in as many of the youth activities as they could so that they became a familiar face. They took leadership positions when they could, and they talked to the youth leaders about how to keep it from happening to other kids. Their youth group is working on mentoring this year to combat it. They've assigned each junior and senior 2-3 younger girls to get to know. They are supposed to engage with these girls regularly, and help them navigate the group. This is a new thing, but already it seems like the girls know a lot more people. They have found, as they've become friends with the teens at church, that most of the kids there really did not mean to be exclusive. It is just VERY easy in larger groups to go unnoticed if you are shy and/or quiet.

I like fun glasses, and always pick out something slightly unusual...so I don't pay a lot of attention to other people's glasses. (unless you have on some really cool ones!) I do stay away from wire frames now...they make me look tired. I just got new ones a couple of weeks ago that I love :)