I have three children, all college aged. I would love nothing better then for them to be very traditional. But I realize that throughout their lives I encouraged them to be explorers. The result is the oldest who graduated with a bachelors in bio-chemistry is now back in school pursuing archaeology and anthropology. It is what I consider a non-traditional and risky career choice.
But my middle son is especially worrisome. He has been pursuing his undergrad in a sloppy non-hearted kind of way to keep me happy. He is now 21 with roughly his associates. A year ago he joined a band. He has spent hours and hours every week learning several instruments. He has been learning about production and recording from other members and experts.
At the end of the month he is moving to Philadelphia where the band is going to devote one year to their band. They are getting alot of local attention, have all of the work here they want and have won several regional talent contests. The local station occasionally plays their music. They want to be in a bigger market. They also want to prove that they can do it away from all of these people who support them. The whole thing makes me very nervous. I would rather him just get through school. But I'm encouraging him while biting my tongue. He'll get a package of house supplies and occasional food care packages from us while he does this.
He has assured me that if it doesn't go well at the end of the year he will go back to school and pour all of this energy into getting serious about a degree.
Any thoughts?
But my middle son is especially worrisome. He has been pursuing his undergrad in a sloppy non-hearted kind of way to keep me happy. He is now 21 with roughly his associates. A year ago he joined a band. He has spent hours and hours every week learning several instruments. He has been learning about production and recording from other members and experts.
At the end of the month he is moving to Philadelphia where the band is going to devote one year to their band. They are getting alot of local attention, have all of the work here they want and have won several regional talent contests. The local station occasionally plays their music. They want to be in a bigger market. They also want to prove that they can do it away from all of these people who support them. The whole thing makes me very nervous. I would rather him just get through school. But I'm encouraging him while biting my tongue. He'll get a package of house supplies and occasional food care packages from us while he does this.
He has assured me that if it doesn't go well at the end of the year he will go back to school and pour all of this energy into getting serious about a degree.
Any thoughts?
(repeat as necessary)
There is a small amount of time between teen years and adults years where they will be expected to follow more traditional paths, most often including taking care of their own children.
Because at this point we could pay less by having a couple's only plan the children are paying the increase from a couple plan to family plan. It's very minimal. This gives them all excellent health, vision and dental coverage. This dd is very responsible with everything else in her life. She works nearly full time in the winter, but it's a low paying job, and more then that in the summer. She pays all of her own bills and is taking out the loans in her name. But she has nothing left. I see that she couldn't afford to stay at this job, which is flexible with school, go to school and rent a place even with room mates. She has little spending cash, can't afford to get a hair cut, buy new clothes or go out much. She doesn't seem to care about any of this. It's clear that she is pretty uncomfortable with some of my house hold rules, mostly about cleanlines in the house and would be much happier on her own. But she wants to go to school and here we are. 
