The first college year!

I have always thought that a child should experience college years away from home!  For kids it is the in thing to do of course, leave the nest and fly and be independent!  The money aspect is really not a factor in their eyes for most of them, it is usually more so for the parents! My son Rob is going to a county college to get his associates degree than transfer to another college to get his Bachelors.  I have to tell you, I like that he is close to home right out of high school.  I really think (in my opinion not all kids are the same). it feels good to know and see any signs of being visibly stress from the pressures that you get in college more so than in high school. College whether it be a big University college or a local county college still has all the same pressures of work that needs to be done! Math for my son is not easy, his first test he thinks, he did not do well on it. He said to me that mom you know what the problem is, they do not allow you to use a calculator when taking a test in college like in high school!

Now I need to ask why do they let you use a calculator in high school in the first place, it makes everything so easy and takes away from the learning process in the first place. I know this sound crazy but think about this, the schools in New Jersey change clocks from the older types with the arms to digital types, so when a child looks at the time if it is 9:15 it reads 9:15  with the arm clock you have to use your brain a little more to read it!  I use to say to my son it is a quarter after 9, he did not know what that meant, I had to say 9:15, really are you kidding me, why did they change the clocks in the first place?  Now that I vented about all that, I have to get back to the issue of local vs. away!  Stress as we all know does crazy things to a persons mine, there are strong minded people and weaker minded people!  Rob, is strong minded where he knows he has a problem with the math and decided to go to tutoring the college offers for extra help!  I did not have to tell him he just knows, but if he was different and didn't get the help he needs he might have felt like a failure like a lot of kids might feel like.  Being a parent who visibly is looking and seeing any signs of problems will know what I am saying.  I have read stories of  kids who have had to much stress and they felt like a failure to their family to bother them with it all, and the outcome sometimes does not turn out very well! For myself I am very glad to see the signs of any sort and I am glad that he reaches out to us and we could physically be there for him at any time of need that he might have.  The county college works for us and it is turning out to be a very good choice with no regrets at all! As I write this my son text me to tell me he did not do great but at least he passed with a 76, you know what I said that was great!  I love that he communicates with us and we are there to give him the encouragement he needs!

Brand name Items!

Okay here it goes, every time I go shopping, like everyone else I look for bargains. When I go with husband and the son tags along I spend loads more money!  If I crab something and its not a brand name they flip out. I try to tell my son, (husband is pretty much a lost cause already and a waste of time and he is making our son a clone of him) that a lot of the time you are paying for the name more than anything else.  Of course it is all a waste of breath, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.  My son loves A-1 steak so (its the best and that is all there is to it, so he says). Really, I don't think so. When the sauce ran out I purchased America's Choice sold in Pathmark sitting right next to A-1. I put America's Choice steak sauce in A-1 steak sauce bottle and my son has not said one word about it not tasting right at all. He has eaten at least 3 steaks since and not one word of negativity has been made out of his mouth!  I also did it with honey  he has to have Golden Blossom not anything else so you know what I did and again not a word, the only problem with honey it could be pretty messy and sticky and not worth the hassle in the long run.  And even though husband is a lost cause he has come to realize that he likes the Americas Choice chicken breast better than Perdue so go figure that out!  Saving $2 to $3 per item is a big thing to me especially if I am just paying for a name! It really is all in the head! LOL