Friday 8 July 2016

Rite of Passage

Well, here I am again. Some years later. DD (18) DS (16 - soon to be 17).

A lot has happened in the last few years.

Both children have passed their GCSE's, DD flew them, DS, by the skin of his teeth! Both joined 6th Form, DD flourished, DS hasn't.  

Isn't it funny how it's so easy to give advice but not so easy to take it? For 14 years I have advised parents that 6th Form isn't for everyone and maybe alternative education is the way forward.  But not for my two children, oh no! They were going to study A Levels, go to University and get great jobs.
Ha! Not so quick says the hand of fate.

DS has struggled. He does not like Academia, it's not for him. He loves the social aspect of school but everything else just bores him. He needs an alternative.  And so here we are on the brink of a new era.  He has enrolled on an FE Course and will start in September. He can't wait! He is like a different person.

DD? Hmm. We have trawled what feels like hundreds of Universities looking for the most suitable places for her to study. She managed to narrow it down and chose 5.  After months of deliberation, she chose her top two. So what now? Well, she is now in the throes of her final exams and here lies the problem.
Her social life..... The boyfriend (of nearly 2 years) has gone - mutual apparently, and now she is enjoying the single life. So much so that very little work is getting done. I am leaving it to her, she is old enough to accept the consequences of her actions but again, as her mother, I know she wants to do well but the lure of nights out is too much. She would go to the opening of an envelope!  DH says we have to let her get on with it and if I mention revision she just ignore me. She does appear to be doing some work but who know.

I must say though, I do now feel as though I have to let her make her own mistakes and learn from them. Is that not how we grow?

That said, she is about to embark on one of those 'rites of passage'... A girls holiday in Magaluf! Dear God, what was I thinking agreeing to that. At least all the girls (6 of them) have like minded parents. Yeah, I know.  Once they are free from us they will ignore everything we've said!! Just stay safe girls eh?...