The sunny side of parenting our son
Lest you think that all is doom and gloom at the Salamone-Punster Palace, here ‘s the good news:
Our son gets along well enough with his soon-to-be-former roommate that they may try to get a two-bedroom private apartment for next September, after our son’s current short-term lease expires.
He’s smart enough to have gotten himself a job as a teaching assistant, though his pay isn’t nearly enough to cover the cost of maintainging the car that he bought with his earnings from last summer’s research project.
He’s in a five-year Physics program, which, though it will cost us an extra year’s tuition and will also mean that he graduates two-three years later than most of his peers—remember that he also put in an extra year in his special-ed. high school—does give him an opportunity to add some more studies to his résumé. Having just about completed his minor in Japanese—the school only offers three years thereof—he’s considering earning a second minor in Microelectical Engineering, and possibly a third minor in Math. This is the same kid who needed a calcutor to add 2 + 2 when he was in fourth grade (roughly 10 years old, for my foreign readers, if any), and who was still struggling with calculus as recently as his freshman year of college. Amazing!
My sister, back when she was still well enough to be employed, spoiled everything when she started treating our son to trips to bookstores. Within a few years, our library-loving son was protesting that he had to buy books because he couldn’t find what he wanted at the library. Sigh. We ended up having to give him a separate “book allowance” on top of his miscellaneous spending money. It cost us a few bucks. But, as I told people at the time, I can think of far worse ways for a kid to blow his parents’ money.
Our son will be taking a six-week course in scientific and technical Japanese in Japan this summer. The airfare will be as sky-high as the jets in which he flies, no doubt. And the food and incidental expenses won’t be a picnic, either, especially if he chooses to tour Tokyo and Kyoto. If??!! If you think we’re going to send our kid all the way to Japan and not insist that he visit Tokyo and Kyoto, at the least, you’re out of your minds! Sure, the cost is going to carve a giant hole in our savings/investments. But I can think of far worse ways for a kid to blow his parents’ money.
Would that all parents who raised a kid with disabilities could have our long-term good fortune. To paraphrase what I said to 30CAL/”Moe” the other day, I try always to count my blessings. I'm not saying "Modim" (“We thank You”) for nothing.
Our son gets along well enough with his soon-to-be-former roommate that they may try to get a two-bedroom private apartment for next September, after our son’s current short-term lease expires.
He’s smart enough to have gotten himself a job as a teaching assistant, though his pay isn’t nearly enough to cover the cost of maintainging the car that he bought with his earnings from last summer’s research project.
He’s in a five-year Physics program, which, though it will cost us an extra year’s tuition and will also mean that he graduates two-three years later than most of his peers—remember that he also put in an extra year in his special-ed. high school—does give him an opportunity to add some more studies to his résumé. Having just about completed his minor in Japanese—the school only offers three years thereof—he’s considering earning a second minor in Microelectical Engineering, and possibly a third minor in Math. This is the same kid who needed a calcutor to add 2 + 2 when he was in fourth grade (roughly 10 years old, for my foreign readers, if any), and who was still struggling with calculus as recently as his freshman year of college. Amazing!
My sister, back when she was still well enough to be employed, spoiled everything when she started treating our son to trips to bookstores. Within a few years, our library-loving son was protesting that he had to buy books because he couldn’t find what he wanted at the library. Sigh. We ended up having to give him a separate “book allowance” on top of his miscellaneous spending money. It cost us a few bucks. But, as I told people at the time, I can think of far worse ways for a kid to blow his parents’ money.
Our son will be taking a six-week course in scientific and technical Japanese in Japan this summer. The airfare will be as sky-high as the jets in which he flies, no doubt. And the food and incidental expenses won’t be a picnic, either, especially if he chooses to tour Tokyo and Kyoto. If??!! If you think we’re going to send our kid all the way to Japan and not insist that he visit Tokyo and Kyoto, at the least, you’re out of your minds! Sure, the cost is going to carve a giant hole in our savings/investments. But I can think of far worse ways for a kid to blow his parents’ money.
Would that all parents who raised a kid with disabilities could have our long-term good fortune. To paraphrase what I said to 30CAL/”Moe” the other day, I try always to count my blessings. I'm not saying "Modim" (“We thank You”) for nothing.
posted by Shira Salamone at 9:21 PM
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