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NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Raising Children Thread

WSU MUP Student said:
My parents cancelled their AAA membership last year for the same reason as you. He had been a member since the late 1950s.

I guess you can still get triptiks and maps through them but they're all electronic now which isn't really that useful for a lot of their older membership (and I would imagine younger folks know how to just get that stuff for free elsewhere).
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The original purpose of AAA (a confederation of clubs) was to make sure roads (in the days before numbered routes) had correct signage for navigation on long trips. It's evolved over the ensuing century or so, but I have a feeling that, like the daily newspaper, its days are numbered.

JIm
 
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WSU MUP Student said:
My parents cancelled their AAA membership last year for the same reason as you. He had been a member since the late 1950s.

I guess you can still get triptiks and maps through them but they're all electronic now which isn't really that useful for a lot of their older membership (and I would imagine younger folks know how to just get that stuff for free elsewhere).
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Reminds me of the time--a decade or so ago now--when a younger-ish (late 20's) couple was looking at stand-alone GPS's in a Target. I overheard the girl say, "I wish they had navigation devices that didn't cost over a hundred dollars!"

I was so tempted to walk over to them with a road atlas from the book section. But I didn't.

Jim
 
jumbach said:
Gotta love my 17-year-old nephew. I did the old "we don't own stock in the power company" bit after turning the A/C back up from 60 to a decent setting of 77, and he replied, "Actually, Uncle James, let's break this down. Your retirement is via NV PERS, among others? Well, turns out that a lot of the portfolio for NV PERS is Berkshire Hathaway, which owns NV Energy. So actually, we DO own stock in the power company."

I really couldn't fault the kid's logic, but I think he missed my point entirely.

Jim
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But...there is really no 'we' in this. It's yours, not his.

;)
 
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jumbach said:
Reminds me of the time--a decade or so ago now--when a younger-ish (late 20's) couple was looking at stand-alone GPS's in a Target. I overheard the girl say, "I wish they had navigation devices that didn't cost over a hundred dollars!"

I was so tempted to walk over to them with a road atlas from the book section. But I didn't.

Jim
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When I was a kid I used to always love sitting down with my dad and going over the maps and triptiks that he would get for our road trips... it didn't matter that it was usually the same route up and down I-75 from Detroit to Sarasota, it was still interesting.

In August we're taking a road trip to Toronto for a few days. I may have to go find a old-school folding paper map of southern Ontario and the Toronto metro so I can do that with my kids ahead of the drive.
 
Sound familiar
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We gave The Girl a paper map on long trips so she could see where we were (How much farther?).

Pointed out town names and asked where they were and such. I think the biggest breakthrough was she knows how to fold a map. :cool:
 
Planit said:
We gave The Girl a paper map on long trips so she could see where we were (How much farther?).

Pointed out town names and asked where they were and such. I think the biggest breakthrough was she knows how to fold a map. :cool:
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We did this, too.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
In August we're taking a road trip to Toronto for a few days. I may have to go find a old-school folding paper map of southern Ontario and the Toronto metro so I can do that with my kids ahead of the drive.
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I'm not sure if they still give out printed copies of the TTC map...but you can download a pdf and print it out. TTC Map
 
Lord help me. Itty Bitty is testing me. Today alone she has "earned" herself 22 additional chores due to her attitude and actions. At least the house will be cleaner and some of the tasks that I don't like to do will get done.
 
jumbach said:
Gotta love my 17-year-old nephew. I did the old "we don't own stock in the power company" bit after turning the A/C back up from 60 to a decent setting of 77, and he replied, "Actually, Uncle James, let's break this down. Your retirement is via NV PERS, among others? Well, turns out that a lot of the portfolio for NV PERS is Berkshire Hathaway, which owns NV Energy. So actually, we DO own stock in the power company."

I really couldn't fault the kid's logic, but I think he missed my point entirely.

Jim


We dropped our AAA membership since they no longer provide printed maps or TourBooks, which were the main reason we had them. They are a pale shadow of their former selves. (We had been members collectively since 1994, and my parents for decades before that.)

We have a towing reimbursement service though our insurance company, so we are covered for that. You can get a lot of the same discounts through AARP, which, at age 47, we are old enough to join and it's worth the $12 a year if just for the magazine.

Jim
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Nephew failed to appreciate your sarcasm but he beat you at the smarty pants game.
 
jumbach said:
We have a towing reimbursement service though our insurance company, so we are covered for that. You can get a lot of the same discounts through AARP, which, at age 47, we are old enough to join and it's worth the $12 a year if just for the magazine.

Jim
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....re AARP remember that their name officially changed to just letters, AARP, just like KFC. AARP is nada mas que a consumer group. I have never joined. They bug me when they lobby for this or that in Congress....they really don't represent membership.
 
Had you heard of The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation - https://mhopus.org/ (Mr Holland's Opus Foundation – Keeping Music Alive in Our Schools) ?
Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TheMrHollandsOpusFoundation (The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation)
Their mission statement -
The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation keeps music alive in our schools by providing vital support services to school districts, and new musical instruments to underfunded music programs nationwide, giving under-represented youth access to the many benefits of music education, leading them to success in school, and inspiring creativity and expression through playing music.
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Gedunker said:
My child texts me from Pride festival Saturday - "we should have gotten another key for the car. I lost mine."

My mind goes to all kinds of dark, expensive places for the next two hours.

Just as I'm pulling out of the driveway to go pick them up, they call to say they found the keys at lost-and-found.
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Seth Meyers Omg GIF by Late Night with Seth Meyers
 
kms said:
It's her job to test you. Sit back and watch her complete her chores.
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Heh, we tried that with our nephew, and the little capitalist outsourced his chores to a neighborhood kid. Hard to get mad--instead of one person (me) being happy and one (him) being unhappy, we ended up with three happy people: me, because the weeding got done; the neighbor kid, who made $50, and the nephew, who didn't have to do the weeding.

Wife and I decided that this is still a punishment, as there is a financial penalty involved ($50), so he still lost something in the deal.

Jim
 
jumbach said:
Heh, we tried that with our nephew, and the little capitalist outsourced his chores to a neighborhood kid. Hard to get mad--instead of one person (me) being happy and one (him) being unhappy, we ended up with three happy people: me, because the weeding got done; the neighbor kid, who made $50, and the nephew, who didn't have to do the weeding.

Wife and I decided that this is still a punishment, as there is a financial penalty involved ($50), so he still lost something in the deal.

Jim
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Did you offer to pay your nephew $50 to do the weeding and he just gave it all to the neighbor kid or did your nephew keep x% and give the neighbor y%? if the latter, you should just hire the neighbor kid directly for y% and cut the nephew out of the deal completely. That can be his punishment!
 
WSU MUP Student said:
Did you offer to pay your nephew $50 to do the weeding and he just gave it all to the neighbor kid or did your nephew keep x% and give the neighbor y%? if the latter, you should just hire the neighbor kid directly for y% and cut the nephew out of the deal completely. That can be his punishment!
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No. His punishment was to spend two hours weeding. That chore got done, just not by him.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
My oldest turned 14 yesterday and started high school band camp this week. I still can't believe that these milestones happened so fast.
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We’ve been in the midst band camp for half of summer for my youngest who turns 15 the beginning of Sept.

Three in HS as of this Wednesday - 9th, 10th and 11th.
 
We dropped our oldest off at horse camp yesterday for the next 8 days. Last year when we took our daughter, our youngest mentioned that she wants to go but she didn't really push it or mention it again. Yesterday she was sooo jealous that her older sister got to go but she couldn't. She's 8 and a half and there were a few girls there who looked a bit younger than her so she wasn't really buy the excuse that she's not old enough (she's going into 3rd grade and the camp takes kids as young as second grade). My wife says she can go once she's in middle school but I'm trying to convince her that maybe next year she can go - her older sister will be going into 10th grade and that's the oldest they allow (though she could go back as a counselor after that) so it would be the only year they could go to camp together. We'll see.

This week our youngest has farm camp day camp at a local farm that's part of the next school district over. She always has a good time but she was not impressed. The day camp seems like weak gruel compared to a sleepaway camp for 7 nights and horses all day long. I do sort of had to agree with her. :rofl:
 
Learning new personal pronouns for your kid is hard, especially when they are in their 20s, as old habits die hard.

I'm not sure transitioning is going to make it any easier for their old man, but hey, I'm willing to give it a shot. Any dad that doesn't want their kid to be the person they want should turn his dad papers in, if you ask me.
 
Band camp. Damn. I had Summer Band, but it was just at the Junior High building. I played the oboe. There were two of us, and I was second chair. Go me. :) I miss summer band, reading these posts!
 
^^Former Oboe Players, Unite!

I played band, orchestra, quartet, and trio, and as part of a music-degree-seeking person's final composition.

I still love to hear a good oboe solo.
 
Why does Google Street View insist on blurring out parking regulation signs? Sometimes, I want to look at them to scout out parking for potential future travel, but I can't.
 
WSU MUP Student said:
We dropped our oldest off at horse camp yesterday for the next 8 days. Last year when we took our daughter, our youngest mentioned that she wants to go but she didn't really push it or mention it again. Yesterday she was sooo jealous that her older sister got to go but she couldn't. She's 8 and a half and there were a few girls there who looked a bit younger than her so she wasn't really buy the excuse that she's not old enough (she's going into 3rd grade and the camp takes kids as young as second grade). My wife says she can go once she's in middle school but I'm trying to convince her that maybe next year she can go - her older sister will be going into 10th grade and that's the oldest they allow (though she could go back as a counselor after that) so it would be the only year they could go to camp together. We'll see.

This week our youngest has farm camp day camp at a local farm that's part of the next school district over. She always has a good time but she was not impressed. The day camp seems like weak gruel compared to a sleepaway camp for 7 nights and horses all day long. I do sort of had to agree with her. :rofl:
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Summer after 3rd grade is when I sent my little to sleepaway camp for 2 weeks. She told me she would like to try it. My oldest has no tolerance for outdoor things and never went but I went every year from summer after 2nd grade through high school. I wasn’t sure she was going to like it but she had a blast and she just finished her 3rd year of going and last year she did winter camp as well between xmas and new years. If she’s asking, let her try it.

My oldest is turning 31 in two weeks 👀 My little starts middle school (7th grade) after Labor Day. Time flies.
 
Itty Bitty starts school soon. I am already having nerves on her behalf (but doing my best to hide it from her). Last year was tough with the mean girl stuff. Many of the same girls are still in her class this year. A few new girls are joining the class this year too. I hope they are nice and don't get sucked into the mean girl stuff.
 
btrage said:
My daughter just got her dorm assignment at Michigan State for the fall. 11th floor. Move in is going to suck. :disoriented:
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We're moving her in tomorrow. It's kind of hitting me hard. Her older sister still lives at home and commutes to a nearby university, so it's not like we're gonna be true empty nesters. But it feels like a major chapter of our lives is ending/beginning. I'm a little sad and apprehensive about how the flow our our lives are going to change.
 
btrage said:
We're moving her in tomorrow. It's kind of hitting me hard. Her older sister still lives at home and commutes to a nearby university, so it's not like we're gonna be true empty nesters. But it feels like a major chapter of our lives is ending/beginning. I'm a little sad and apprehensive about how the flow our our lives are going to change.
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Gedunker said:
^^It is really incredible how your life rhythms adopt to a school calendar and then, finally, when there are no kids in school anymore, you just kind of drift, aimlessly. It really is disconcerting.
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Maybe because we're still in the midst of three in high school...but I look forward to the 'empty nest' period.

Perhaps that's a bit self centered, but I can handle this truth.

community GIF
 
mendelman said:
Maybe because we're still in the midst of three in high school...but I look forward to the 'empty nest' period.

Perhaps that's a bit self centered, but I can handle this truth.

community GIF
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Don't get me wrong, my wife and I have both looked forward to it. We made the decision to have kids relatively young looking forward to this day. I think it's just hitting me that the day has arrived, and I guess I wasn't quite ready!! I think some of it is that my wife has travelled extensively for her business the last 10 years and I've been the primary parent when it comes to shuttling the kids around and making it to all of their events. Definitely entering a new phase of my life.
 
Youngest was going to bed last night and started cycling towards a panic attack. Started with monsters, then burglars, then fire, earthquakes and every possible bad thing that could happen. Went to bed late after calming down.

This morning she couldn't find clothes that would match and none of her socks were long enough. After a few tears, she was fine. I can already see the same pattern we went through with the oldest. Instead of starting in 5th grade, the younger one is bringing the drama in the 3rd.
 
The private schools a block from my house are back in session. I can almost touch the end of summer... and by "touch" I mean push my kids off the couch and out the door to school on the 3rd of September!

I like when the private schools are in session because when the weather is nice, I can work in the den or kitchen with the windows open and hear the elementary kids on the playground. I like the sounds of kids when they're a few hundred yards away so much more than the sounds they make in the same house as me.
 
Kids around here have been in school for nearly 3 weeks already.

August 5-6: Students with last names A-J
August 7-8: Students with last names K-Z
August 9: ALL Students at School
 
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