Do you embarrass your kids? Do they harbor a base fear that they may run into you at the mall? Do you make them squirm with trepidation when they bring a boy/girl friend home for a visit?
If that’s the case, tell your kids to get ready for the most frightening time of their lives! We are invading their school/college campuses!
We’re heeeeeeere!!! We, your parents, mom & dad, even grandma and grandpa are sitting next to you in your chemistry class, your history class, your English class and yes, even in your physical education classes!
We are the ones with the gray hair – caused no doubt by our very own college bound children – and we’re the ones who hated the idea that bell-bottom pants are back in style! We threw them out more than 30 years ago!
You can see us all over the campus at schools across the country. We are the weird-looking people wearing high heels with backpacks, although some of us wear tennis shoes with arch supports and Dr. Scholl’s corn removers.
Our numbers are increasing – in fact, we are the fastest growing age group attending college today! According to the Association for Nontraditional Students in Higher Education (ANTSHE), students who are over 25 make up 47 percent of the new and returning student population on many of today's college campuses. Kind of scary isn’t it?
No, we’re not checking up on you kids – or trying to make your lives miserable – although that is a side benefit worthy of consideration.
We are here to learn! And are we ever learning! We have learned that Ben Gay works really well on sore shoulder muscles from carrying that darn backpack filled with books given to us by professors half our age! We have learned that Scooters make wonderful transportation across a crowded campus… and of course, learning how to drive in between hand-holding college sweethearts – one of those “benefits” I mentioned earlier. Oh, and don’t forget, being late to class is always forgivable if you walk with a cane!
However, there are some things we can do much better than our college age children. We are good at standing in line at the bookstore while hordes of screaming, yelling and crying kids/teenagers/children surround us. We’ve had lots of practice – remember standing in line at the grocery store while you, our wonderful, little children screamed for toys/candy/ice cream? It’s the same thing!
And yet, there are some things we know nothing whatsoever about – yes, this is an admission of total ignorance. So, can someone tell me why some young men can be seen with nose rings? Kind of reminds me of the old bull in the pasture with the large ring through his nose – it was used to “keep him in his place.” Wait, maybe the girlfriend put it there… in that case, hmmmm, not a bad idea!
I’m sorry, but I still don’t get all the body piercings… noses, eyebrows, lips and who knows where else they have placed those things. The only time I ever used safety pins in public was to hold up my poodle skirt when the buttons popped off!
And what’s with the combat boots and clunky shoes? When I was a young adult, the pointier the toe, the better. We wouldn’t be caught dead wearing “old lady” shoes. So what if today we all have hammer toes, need foot surgery and are often seen wearing a podiatry shoe? Wasn’t it worth it to be in style?
Talk about being in style. I can remember being in the cool group if we even owned a television set. Today, it’s streaming video on their I-phones and Blackberrys.
Yet, there are advantages to being an older student. For one thing, when the professors, those same ones who are half our age, begin taking about the 1960s, civil rights, JFK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the Black Panthers, Woodstock or the first man on the moon, WE were there. We lived it.
And, we are making history again. We are starting a trend that is growing bigger every year with more and more adults attending college – either returning for second, third or fourth degrees or even some of us for the very first time.
So, don’t be embarrassed when you see mom sitting next to you in the class room, she may be a veritable fountain of information!
She also carries aspirin, hand sterilizer, Band-Aids, tweezers, needle and thread, and safety pins! And, she just might be able to give you a few pointers on clothes or accessories to match your purple hair!
www.communicatewithimpact.com
If that’s the case, tell your kids to get ready for the most frightening time of their lives! We are invading their school/college campuses!
We’re heeeeeeere!!! We, your parents, mom & dad, even grandma and grandpa are sitting next to you in your chemistry class, your history class, your English class and yes, even in your physical education classes!
We are the ones with the gray hair – caused no doubt by our very own college bound children – and we’re the ones who hated the idea that bell-bottom pants are back in style! We threw them out more than 30 years ago!
You can see us all over the campus at schools across the country. We are the weird-looking people wearing high heels with backpacks, although some of us wear tennis shoes with arch supports and Dr. Scholl’s corn removers.
Our numbers are increasing – in fact, we are the fastest growing age group attending college today! According to the Association for Nontraditional Students in Higher Education (ANTSHE), students who are over 25 make up 47 percent of the new and returning student population on many of today's college campuses. Kind of scary isn’t it?
No, we’re not checking up on you kids – or trying to make your lives miserable – although that is a side benefit worthy of consideration.
We are here to learn! And are we ever learning! We have learned that Ben Gay works really well on sore shoulder muscles from carrying that darn backpack filled with books given to us by professors half our age! We have learned that Scooters make wonderful transportation across a crowded campus… and of course, learning how to drive in between hand-holding college sweethearts – one of those “benefits” I mentioned earlier. Oh, and don’t forget, being late to class is always forgivable if you walk with a cane!
However, there are some things we can do much better than our college age children. We are good at standing in line at the bookstore while hordes of screaming, yelling and crying kids/teenagers/children surround us. We’ve had lots of practice – remember standing in line at the grocery store while you, our wonderful, little children screamed for toys/candy/ice cream? It’s the same thing!
And yet, there are some things we know nothing whatsoever about – yes, this is an admission of total ignorance. So, can someone tell me why some young men can be seen with nose rings? Kind of reminds me of the old bull in the pasture with the large ring through his nose – it was used to “keep him in his place.” Wait, maybe the girlfriend put it there… in that case, hmmmm, not a bad idea!
I’m sorry, but I still don’t get all the body piercings… noses, eyebrows, lips and who knows where else they have placed those things. The only time I ever used safety pins in public was to hold up my poodle skirt when the buttons popped off!
And what’s with the combat boots and clunky shoes? When I was a young adult, the pointier the toe, the better. We wouldn’t be caught dead wearing “old lady” shoes. So what if today we all have hammer toes, need foot surgery and are often seen wearing a podiatry shoe? Wasn’t it worth it to be in style?
Talk about being in style. I can remember being in the cool group if we even owned a television set. Today, it’s streaming video on their I-phones and Blackberrys.
Yet, there are advantages to being an older student. For one thing, when the professors, those same ones who are half our age, begin taking about the 1960s, civil rights, JFK, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, the Black Panthers, Woodstock or the first man on the moon, WE were there. We lived it.
And, we are making history again. We are starting a trend that is growing bigger every year with more and more adults attending college – either returning for second, third or fourth degrees or even some of us for the very first time.
So, don’t be embarrassed when you see mom sitting next to you in the class room, she may be a veritable fountain of information!
She also carries aspirin, hand sterilizer, Band-Aids, tweezers, needle and thread, and safety pins! And, she just might be able to give you a few pointers on clothes or accessories to match your purple hair!
www.communicatewithimpact.com
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