I rarely post on FB, but after I dropped Tank off I posted a photo of Tank in his room with a caption: 1 DOWN, 2 TO GO. Then a note on our next drop offs.
A woman commented: OH, ENJOY NOTRE DAME'S WELCOME WEEK. THEY DO IT RIGHT. (she's an ND mom)
This reminds me of how Mary Ann gave Mini a card earlier in the summer congratulating her on ND. Mary Ann's daughter's a junior there. Um, no - WE WON'T BE CARPOOLING.
Don't get me wrong, the card was nice. Guessing Mary Ann is like my family of origin, recognizing Notre Dame as The One. The Only.
Puke.
Mini: (after getting the card) THAT WAS NICE. GUESSING SHE DIDN'T CONGRATULATE TANK ON CREIGHTON LAST YEAR THOUGH. *eyeroll*
Over the summer, Mini caddied for men who hate Notre Dame. I keep telling her that so long as she sees things clearly, she won't become a person who embraces the 'This is The One. The Only' mindset.
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| This is only a few of them. There are more. |
Mini: I KNOW. I LOVE IT.
Me: UH-OH. IT'S HAPPENING. YOU'RE TURNING INTO ONE OF THEM. (giggling)
The "ND does welcome weekend right" FB comment reminded me of those bumper stickers: honor roll student at (insert school) on board. I really wanted to reply on FB with something like MY CREIGHTON STUDENT CAN BEAT UP YOUR NOTRE DAME STUDENT.
I refrained.
I told Coach and Mini about how that FB comment ruffled my feathers, and we all chuckled. I thought Creighton's welcome was amazing. While ND's was a wonderful weekend, a few things could have been improved:
Sometimes the schedule changed or was wrong. Or a time was listed incorrectly. Oops.
ND (quoting Ally Bean) "charges a king's ransom" to attend, so could they offer parents complimentary dining hall passes for these two days? Limit the menu options, if that cuts cost - but come on now.
There WAS a free hot dog lunch on Friday. They ran out of drinks early on though and they didn't replenish. When they said hot dog lunch, they weren't kidding. The hot dogs were already in buns. Only the bag of chips was GF. I pack my own food just in case, so I was fine.
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| I bet the birds were excited for my bread crumbs. I don't think this photo even does the bread disaster justice. |
There's an ND Facebook page for parents of freshmen. Dang. I discovered it AFTER welcome weekend. It would've been nice to to have tips, advice, and info in advance. My guess: the University isn't affiliated with this page, so it wouldn't be their responsibility to share the link. But, I repeat DANG.
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| This was a fun dinner idea. One of Mini's roomies texted asking if they wanted to sit together. Mini didn't see the text until later. It didn't matter because one of the other girls in the quad had responded that they were going to eat somewhere else. Apparently not everyone appreciates a free meal like the Shenanigans do. |
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BTW - I joined the FB page. I can scroll to early posts. Not sure a bigger time suck exists. Parents on this page posted about their kids' acceptances since late December.
Some are standard: SUZIE Q IS EXCITED TO ATTEND NOTRE DAME IN THE FALL. WE LIVE IN CALIFORNIA. LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING ALL OF YOU.
Then there are others: WHILE JOHNNY HAS BEEN ACCEPTED TO MANY FINE INSTITUTIONS, HE'S CHOSEN ND. HIS OLDER BROTHER AND SISTER BOTH GO TO ND. SO DID HIS DAD AND I. JOHNNY WAS VOTED BY HIS PEERS TO SPEAK DURING COMENCEMENT AT HIS VERY PRESTIGIOUS HIGH SCHOOL. HE'S ALSO THE BEST AT EVERY SPORT YOU'VE EVER HEARD OF. HE PLANS TO BE A DOCTOR AND A CHEMICAL ENGINEER BUT WILL FIRST SOLVE WORLD HUNGER. (sort of embellished, but you get the idea).
If I'd known about the page and I was going to introduce Mini on it back when she was accepted, maybe I'd write:
OUR DAUGHTER, MINI, HAS BEEN ACCEPTED TO ND. WE'RE PROUD OF HER FOR . . .
* NOT KNOWING THAT ND ACCEPTANCES HAD BEEN DELIVERED IN EMAIL FOR 36 HOURS,
* ALWAYS ROCKING A MESSY BUN,
* BEING LATE ALMOST DAILY TO HIGH SCHOOL BUT KNOWING HOW TO WIGGLE OUT OF IT AND THEREFORE NEVER SERVING DETENTION,
* GETTING EXCELLENT GRADES DESPITE SKIPPING SCHOOL REGULARLY TO HELP ME WITH MY DAYCARE,
* LOSING HER PHONE REPEATEDLY BUT BEING RESOURCEFUL ENOUGH TO FIND IT - OFTEN IN THE POCKET OF HER HOODIE,
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| Mini at the beautiful grotto at Notre Dame. Go get um, kid. You are one of a kind. |
* PROVIDING PEERS WITH SIDE SPLITTING ENTERTAINMENT CONSISTENTLY,
* SOCIALLY CONNECTING WITH VARIOUS GROUPS AT HIGH SCHOOL BECAUSE OF HER FRIENDLY AND GENUINE PERSONALITY,
* CHOOSING NOT TO CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS OF HER,
* NEVER PRETENDING TO BE ANYTHING BUT WHO SHE IS.
LOOKING FORWARD TO MEETING ALL OF YOU SOON.
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In the comments, please add suggestions for a crafty Mini FB intro that I may've glossed over, or if you've attended a welcome by a college - how did it go? Do you know people who have tunnel vision when it comes to their fav college? Or do you know people who brag about their kids? Ever eat a messy meal and wish you were in a stadium?
16 comments:
I love your write-up on the very unique Mini - hilarious. I was always so tired of people that bragged endlessly about their 'perfect' kids. Mine were pretty darn normal and in fact got into a fair amount of trouble, so people like that made me feel awful. However, I have noticed that my imperfect kids are doing better in life and more independent than a lot of the 'perfect' teens that are at 30 still dependent on their parents!
Pat - Thanks, part of me wishes I could write something similar and post it so people see that it is OK not to be valedictorian. Good grief. I've always been better at laughing at my kids' antics verses focusing on their academic achievements. Tank's ski trip with buddies comes to mind. I sure hope the kids that are being bragged about in these posts are not as caught up on their achievements. I'm sure your kids turned out great because they are well rounded, and maybe they got the nonsense out of their systems when they were younger.
Oh, honestly Mini sounds great and I would hate to spend time with the kids of the bragging parents, who either believe what their parents are saying or are mortified by it, poor things.
ND people cannot be nearly as obnoxious as Ohio State people. Notice that I did not use their preferred name for the school, which is adding the absolutely ridiculous "The" in front of it, which is so stupid and awful that I refuse to even take seriously anyone who insists upon using it.
Also notice that I said Ohio State PEOPLE and not alumni or students exclusively. There is a huge contingent of individuals who are merely fans of OSU football and act like it is their religion or something.
That Mini is excited about her school is terrific. That enthusiasm will carry her far her first year when she has a lot of adjusting to do.
ccr - It is eye-opening to see what parents post about their kids on this page. It might be a good guide to refer to when trying to figure out why some people behave the way they do down the road. Hopefully some kids are normal despite dealing with braggy parents.
Nance - Being from a suburb of Chicago, I was unaware of Ohio State groupies. I believe it. Coach texted Mini yesterday, telling her that he was sort of happy for the Marshall kids. They won a game that they will always remember. ND paid them like 1.2 million or something, because they believed it would be a blow out and they wanted their first game to be a blow out. Ouch.
Mini agreed with Coach. She saw a fan holding up a sign that said ND 36 vs Marshall 19. "Not just my point prediction, this is the average ACT score for the two schools." What on earth is wrong with people.
Well, one thing is true - she has a lot of adjusting to do. She is struggling.
I believe you hit all points on the intro...unless you wanted to add in something about not letting her drive your car if she asks?
We are not a 'college-going family. I mean, our kids are the first ones in our immediate families, so they had to start the trend. Here in Florida, there are a lot of Gator fans. Even people who didn't go to College are obsessed with the Gators. I do not get it.
You are a messy girl, but let's blame the not-so-fresh bread.
I know you're not gonna carpool with Mary Ann, but maybe you guys could watch some of the football games together at your house. I mean, she did get your kid a card!
It's just very different in Canadian universities, there is just not the same kind of fanfare around the bigger ones. This is all pretty foreign to me! Good luck to all your college kids this year!
Suz - Good point . . . Don't let Mini borrow your car. Gator obsession does sound like a Florida thing.
The bread was probably technically fresh, but guessing the absense of gluten made it crumble. I feel similarly at times . . . I might crumble in the absense of gluten. Hee hee.
Football games can be long. Not sure I'd survive watching a game with Mary Ann. ;)
Nicole - So interesting in the differences of the college thing. Once at one of Lad's college water polo games, a kid on the other team was thrown out of the game. It was a home game. The crowed went bananas, celebrating. He got out of the pool and ran along the side of the pool where the fans sat and hollered repeatedly: I GO TO MIT, I GO TO MIT. This translates to: my college is more prestigious than the college you are cheering for. Oh, it was so awkward. Of course the fans only found his 'bragging rights' entertaining.
The intros sound like longer versions of the intros that were posted on our school's FB kindergarten class pages last year. And for 5-year-olds, parents sharing a photo and a little my-kid intro was fine.
But for pre-college students... ugh. My mom and I would've had a big fight over it if it had been an option back when I was a teenager. Because I know her well enough to know that she would've insisted on her right to do a post, and I would have hated the entire idea LIKE FIRE.
Hope Mini is adjusting to ND! Even in the toddler crowd I encounter braggy parents - I'm sorry but your child wasn't potty trained at 13 months if at 25 months she still regularly goes in the diapers she wears full time. Lol
I should add I feel really sorry for the parents who feel competitive especially with toddlers. It's OK AND NORMAL for kids to do things at different ages and it's not a sign of being a better mom to have your kid potty trained by a certain age (or sleeping 11 hours or having the best finger paint or ....). It must be exhausting to live that way!
Anonymous - It certainly wasn't mandatory and not everyone posted. I was late to the party, but I scrolled back to see some of them. Sometimes it was helpful - like had Mini looked at it she would've maybe figured out some other business majors. It was supposed to be for the parents though. So, why so much bragging?
joymarie - Yes, this is definitely a thing with parents of younger kids too. I've heard it all. Mind blowing. I completely agree, these parents must be exhausted to constantly feel the need to compete.
Huh. I'm not a parent nor am I on FB so you're talking about things I know nothing about... but find fascinating from a social scientist point of view. Carry on, I'm sure you'll find the best way
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