I wish I'd known...

[carvers4math]

We are those mean old parents that have a strict rule about no dating until 16. Our kids, all boys, actually have all seemed to be relieved more than anything by it. They have all been asked to prom when they were freshmen by some junior or senior girl they barely knew and been relieved to have the mean old parents excuse.

When they heard their 15 year old messed up cousin was pregnant, one of them mentioned our dating rule and said he would keep the rule for his own kids lol.

 

[NickTheGreat]

We are those mean old parents that have a strict rule about no dating until 16. Our kids, all boys, actually have all seemed to be relieved more than anything by it. They have all been asked to prom when they were freshmen by some junior or senior girl they barely knew and been relieved to have the mean old parents excuse.

When they heard their 15 year old messed up cousin was pregnant, one of them mentioned our dating rule and said he would keep the rule for his own kids lol.

Yeah, no 15 year old boy should get pregnant. Ruins their life!

 

[carvers4math]

Yeah, no 15 year old boy should get pregnant. Ruins their life!

Lulz.

This poor girl never had a chance. Sister-in-law is awful abusive parent, split with father who is alcoholic and dying of cancer, girl is on multiple prescription drugs for ADHD, depression, and anxiety, which she doesn't take because she self medicates with pot, cocaine, and heroin, is a cutter, and the baby daddy in incarcerated for knifing a guy for the $10 bucks in his wallet. Somehow the baby was healthy but unless she is removed from the dysfunction, also probably doesn't have a chance.

 

[Clonefan32]

What my friend and I were talking about specifically was this: People ask the wrong question when choosing what to study or go into for a career.

People generally ask: What do I want to do?
What we both wished people had asked us: How do you want to live? Followed by: What path will allow you to live that way?

I've also been thinking about this lately. I have had an opportunity to work with some college kids recently, and I often have to hold back a chuckle when I ask them what they want to do. Inevitably, it's an incredibly niche job, requiring an incredibly niche education, where job prospects are few and far between. I had one kid tell me he was going to be a data analyst for a professional baseball team, and one girl tell me she was going to law school in Egypt to eventually work as a lawyer for some organization in Palestine.

I wanted badly to give them some practical advice-- to let them know that they would dig themselves into deep, deep debt chasing a job that may not ever exist. I wanted to tell them everyone comes to college with a dream and half of us wind up working drab jobs in cubicles taking phone calls. But it is somewhat refreshing to see people with a legitimate dream and hell why not chase it? Why not give an honest shot at doing what you feel you need to do?

 

[mdk2isu]

Hell no. And I know my boys are not mature enough to be teenage parents. They might be smart to wait until LATE twenties.

Well they are YOUR boys...