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So what are your [child's] plans for the summer?

By Patient (Patient) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 12:37 am: Edit

workingfulltimetohelpdefraythetuition (well, kind of kidding, but yes, I have asked him to find a job). Also, hopefully, continuing to play his sport in tournaments around the U.S. for fun, and having a good amount of down time with PS2 and his friends.

By Blueberry (Blueberry) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 01:19 am: Edit

I agree with patient...working, most likely to get a head start on those tuition bills. (I'm a student.)

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 08:52 am: Edit

My graduating daughter will be home for the summer taking a job to earn her spending money for college. This will be her first summer home in seven years. My other teenage daughter will be returning for her seventh summer at her beloved theater program in NY State.
Susan

By Musicmom (Musicmom) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 10:07 am: Edit

Our son will be working as many hours as possible to earn that college spending money for this fall. It will be the first summer for serious work. Previously, he always had a music enrichment program or Governor's School or such. That stuff surely helped his resume but now it will be about the $$$$$!

By Marite (Marite) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 10:13 am: Edit

Going back to PROMYS and meeting up with his chums there (from NJ, CA, CT, MA and other parts of the country).

By Sluggbugg (Sluggbugg) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 12:15 pm: Edit

Summer school (Spanish) at her university & some sort of volunteer work in health care. Dd is laying the groundwork for med school. Ds is also taking Spanish at the university. They'll both be living in the dorms. The Spanish teachers at his h/s are not good, and he wants to get his foreign language req out of the way for graduation.

By Shennie (Shennie) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 05:54 pm: Edit

My graduating senior is hoping to take a 6 week backpacking trip above the Artic Circle in Alaska. This is a trip he has dreamed of for 2 years but mean old Mom and Dad told him he had to earn half the money for the trip before he could go. He finally got the message and got a job. He is pretty excited about the possibilty of the trip.

By Coureur (Coureur) on Sunday, January 04, 2004 - 06:29 pm: Edit

Playing her bassoon in the orchestra - going on tour to central Europe this summer. They do some part of Europe every other year. How expensive of a college she ends up admitted to may influence how agressive she'll need to be in her orchestra fund-raising efforts.

By Belial (Belial) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 12:30 pm: Edit

As a student.

We are planning a road trip from West to East, ends at my univ. I heared that a lot of families break down on those trips. Is this true? Would be sad, to make some happiest hours into the darkest.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Wednesday, January 07, 2004 - 01:06 pm: Edit

Belial,

Some of the best family vacations we've had have been road trips. My D and wife still love them.

I think the secret to good road trips is less road and more trip. Leave time to see some things on the way. A good way to do that is to avoid interstate highways when at all possible. For most of a trip to the east coast, this is not hard. Particularly in the plains states and midwest, where the scenery, as viewed from the interstates, is an acquired taste at best, there are usually lightly travelled old US highways paralleling the interstate some distance away. These old roads go though ranch and farm country, as well as fascinating small towns, and can really add interest to a trip. As a bonus, they usually don't add too much time to the drive either.

The only other secret to a good road trip is compromise. If you get to see some things you want and the parents do the same, you'll do fine. And, as a bonus, I've often found that the things my wife or D wanted to see that I did not turned out to be better than the things on the top of my list! (sadly, not the other way so much...)