Keeping an Eye on Social Media
I think all of us who are parenting teens have had this talk with our kids. We’ve told them to be careful what they put out there on the internet. We’ve warned them that they should be careful what they type because it can’t be taken back once it’s sent. And we’ve all been given that look by our teens…the one that indicates they think we’re old, paranoid, and killers of their joy. When we warn them that the stuff they send via text, twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the social media avenues can harm their chances for college entry and future jobs, they give us more of the same. Mine remind me that they can control who sees what. Then I say they can’t control what the chosen people share and pass on. And I get that look from them again. Sound familiar? Well, my husband pointed out
Celebrating Success
Katie got her report card last week and it was a good one. It wasn’t straight A’s, but it was close. Way to go, Katie! Of course, I knew long before that piece of paper was in her hands what the grades were. She’s pretty good at monitoring the situation with her grades. At any given time, she usually knows how things are going with her grades. She checks in with her teachers fairly frequently to be sure she’s doing okay. She’s not a perfect student and she’s fine with a B. But she doesn’t like anything less than that. I’m lucky Katie keeps up with her work and is driven enough to take care of things on her own. So I try to be careful not to take it for granted. I try to tell her frequently how much I appreciate that report card days are not frightening days.
Up Next: High School
Lately, Max has been reminding me that he will be in high school next fall. I am surprised he is bringing it up so often. Maybe he is not just reminding me but coming to grips with it himself. Will high school be a big change for Max? In terms of meeting new people, maybe not. After all, most of the kids who will be in next fall’s freshman class are kids he has known since second grade. A lot of students who will be seniors at that time are Gus’s pals so Max will know several upperclassmen as well. He may be anticipating harder classes, a different type of schedule and having to learn his way around a new school. There will be new teachers. Max may very likely be taught by a few who taught his older brother. Gus had a successful first year of high school before
College Cards Begin To Fall
I’ve spent the better part of the past 10 months educating myself on the “how to” of applying to colleges, aligning deadlines, consulting with various experts, searching the Internet, studying virtual tours of campuses, organizing files and data, prioritizing, making phone calls, sending emails, visiting colleges and attending art portfolio reviews, all right along side of Kass, my high school senior in waiting. After several down and dirty jam sessions at the kitchen table last summer, the whole college application matter began to capture Kassiane’s attention (almost) as much as it was mine. She began to take it seriously and tuned in to the details and requirements to help get this machine called “applying to college” launched. She found that fellow art school mates were furiously at it as well and realized that time was of the essence to get the ball really rolling. The fall was chock full of
Prescription Drug Use Problem, Part 2
Prescription drug abuse has been now labeled as “epidemic” in Eastern NC, a scary thought and a TERRIBLE problem which has implications far and wide affecting our youth. Drug overdose / misuse related deaths follow only behind traffic fatalities as the 2nd leading cause of death in Eastern NC. This information is a wake up call to citizens young and old who care anything at all about what is happening in our society, and most especially amongst our young people. To bring you a bit more up to speed, the most commonly abused drugs and those most commonly cited as contributing to unintentional poisoning deaths are : Methadone, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone (and other Opioid painkillers), Alprazolam(Xanax) and Fentanyl. These are very useful, effective drugs which serve a need to provide pain relief in patients who truly need such medications, such as, but not limited to, cancer patients. Physicians have a duty to prescribe
