Another post in a perpetual series on the joys of parenting. 204 days to go! I'm looking forward to empty-nester almost as much as I looked forward to ER.
Here's an interesting challenge which no doubt you winterized posters will find hugely entertaining. I know I'm enjoying it, as much as I'll enjoy hearing her say "Mom, Dad, you were right..." in about 11 months. Call it parental schadenfreude.
We're trying to persuade our kid of the many healthful/thermal/social benefits of owning winter clothes for attending college in Houston. Now, before you get all competitive on us, I grew up near Pittsburgh and spouse grew up near DC. The Navy has shown us all sorts of worldwide winter weather, and that's why we live in Hawaii. We know cold, and we agree that Houston is on the margins. I bet that even Houstonites would rather proclaim their harsh summer climate than to defend their wimpy winters.
But as far as our kid knows winter, Houston is the equivalent of the Arctic circle. I think she's thrown a snowball once but she's never had to slog to school through sleety snow with wet hair, wet clothes, and soaked shoes. When told that a northeastern college's winter temperatures frequently dipped to "15 below", she innocently inquired "15 below what?" She's never had her snot freeze, let alone gotten a nosebleed from the cold. She's never had to soak her numbed, pasty-white extremities in water to restore the circulation while praying that her parents don't discover her to deliver the inevitable "I told you so" lecture. Houston doesn't seem to spend much time below freezing but it's spent a lot of the last couple months below 50 degrees, and that's never happened at our altitude of Oahu.
So first we had to persuade our kid to search for winter clothes. She looked through her closet, turned up two pairs of socks plus a hooded sweatshirt, and proclaimed "mission complete".
Then her engineer's logic asserted itself: "I'll just stay in the dorm. They'll have the heat on." That was followed by: "I'll just run between buildings. If it's cold, I won't want to be outside anyway."
Later that day we heard: "Look, HGTV is showing Michelle Obama giving a tour of the White House. It's snowing outside but she's wearing a sleeveless dress. I'll be fine!"
Exasperated, spouse suggested that she check with some of her local friends who are already attending Mainland colleges-- like Amy in Denver. Amy texted back "Brrrrrrrr, better listen to your mother on this one."
Luckily our kid, despite her entrenched skepticism of her crazy parents, was willing to go shopping. In Hawaii, you buy your winter clothes at Goodwill from all the malahini who've thrown theirs away. Here are some verbatim complaints:
"These long pants are too hot & sweaty." We're going to have to find her a walk-in freezer with a dressing room.
"This shirt tail is too long and it bunches up when I tuck it in." Well, that's so it doesn't pull out of your pants and give you a cold breeze up your backside every time you bend over.
"I can't pull up the cuffs of this sweater, and they're too loose." Sure, because you're supposed to be wearing that sweater layered over a long-sleeve shirt.
"These coat sleeves aren't right. My shirt sleeves are all bunching up at the elbow." Um, yeah, honey, let me show you how to hold your shirt cuff down over your wrist with your fingers while you slide your arm into the coat.
"Hey, this nylong windbreaker is cute!" Yeah, sure. Now get back to the real coats.
"Dad, can I have your 30-year-old Gerry ski jacket?" No, honey, I might need that to visit Grandpa. But maybe you could buy one of your own?
"These long shirtsleeves must be broken. The cuffs have to be buttoned together." Gosh, I'm still looking for a good answer to this one. What do you say to a kid who's never worn a long-sleeve buttoned shirt in her life?
It wasn't all a total loss. Turns out she's quite happy to be struttin' her stuff in high-heeled leather boots, which she recognized from old episodes of "America's Next Top Model". However that's a whole 'nother "getting ready for college" conversation.
Later she said "Well, I notice that the college schedule has a four-day vacation weekend in October. I think I'll borrow a friend's car and drive over to Denver to visit Amy."
Gonna be one heck of an education!
Here's an interesting challenge which no doubt you winterized posters will find hugely entertaining. I know I'm enjoying it, as much as I'll enjoy hearing her say "Mom, Dad, you were right..." in about 11 months. Call it parental schadenfreude.
We're trying to persuade our kid of the many healthful/thermal/social benefits of owning winter clothes for attending college in Houston. Now, before you get all competitive on us, I grew up near Pittsburgh and spouse grew up near DC. The Navy has shown us all sorts of worldwide winter weather, and that's why we live in Hawaii. We know cold, and we agree that Houston is on the margins. I bet that even Houstonites would rather proclaim their harsh summer climate than to defend their wimpy winters.
But as far as our kid knows winter, Houston is the equivalent of the Arctic circle. I think she's thrown a snowball once but she's never had to slog to school through sleety snow with wet hair, wet clothes, and soaked shoes. When told that a northeastern college's winter temperatures frequently dipped to "15 below", she innocently inquired "15 below what?" She's never had her snot freeze, let alone gotten a nosebleed from the cold. She's never had to soak her numbed, pasty-white extremities in water to restore the circulation while praying that her parents don't discover her to deliver the inevitable "I told you so" lecture. Houston doesn't seem to spend much time below freezing but it's spent a lot of the last couple months below 50 degrees, and that's never happened at our altitude of Oahu.
So first we had to persuade our kid to search for winter clothes. She looked through her closet, turned up two pairs of socks plus a hooded sweatshirt, and proclaimed "mission complete".
Then her engineer's logic asserted itself: "I'll just stay in the dorm. They'll have the heat on." That was followed by: "I'll just run between buildings. If it's cold, I won't want to be outside anyway."
Later that day we heard: "Look, HGTV is showing Michelle Obama giving a tour of the White House. It's snowing outside but she's wearing a sleeveless dress. I'll be fine!"
Exasperated, spouse suggested that she check with some of her local friends who are already attending Mainland colleges-- like Amy in Denver. Amy texted back "Brrrrrrrr, better listen to your mother on this one."
Luckily our kid, despite her entrenched skepticism of her crazy parents, was willing to go shopping. In Hawaii, you buy your winter clothes at Goodwill from all the malahini who've thrown theirs away. Here are some verbatim complaints:
"These long pants are too hot & sweaty." We're going to have to find her a walk-in freezer with a dressing room.
"This shirt tail is too long and it bunches up when I tuck it in." Well, that's so it doesn't pull out of your pants and give you a cold breeze up your backside every time you bend over.
"I can't pull up the cuffs of this sweater, and they're too loose." Sure, because you're supposed to be wearing that sweater layered over a long-sleeve shirt.
"These coat sleeves aren't right. My shirt sleeves are all bunching up at the elbow." Um, yeah, honey, let me show you how to hold your shirt cuff down over your wrist with your fingers while you slide your arm into the coat.
"Hey, this nylong windbreaker is cute!" Yeah, sure. Now get back to the real coats.
"Dad, can I have your 30-year-old Gerry ski jacket?" No, honey, I might need that to visit Grandpa. But maybe you could buy one of your own?
"These long shirtsleeves must be broken. The cuffs have to be buttoned together." Gosh, I'm still looking for a good answer to this one. What do you say to a kid who's never worn a long-sleeve buttoned shirt in her life?
It wasn't all a total loss. Turns out she's quite happy to be struttin' her stuff in high-heeled leather boots, which she recognized from old episodes of "America's Next Top Model". However that's a whole 'nother "getting ready for college" conversation.
Later she said "Well, I notice that the college schedule has a four-day vacation weekend in October. I think I'll borrow a friend's car and drive over to Denver to visit Amy."
Gonna be one heck of an education!