Tuesday, January 12, 2010

lessons to learn

O.K. it is really starting to set in that caleb is leaving next year, i think even he is realizing it.
there are some things he really needs to learn before going to school:

first he really needs to learn how to use his debit card. he has had it since this summer and has been overdrawn 3 times. you would think that the card would be declined but it always takes it and he is charged 26$ .the problem is he checks the atm and if it says he has 5$ he will go spend 3 or 4$ that probably wasn't really even there. so he got a long lecture yesterday about keeping 25$ in your account and balancing your purchases not relying on the atm or online.
second he has to get up. i am still waking him at up at 17 years old. teenagers sleep that's what they do but he has got to learn to get up. i am sure he won't be scheduling classes at 6:30 a.m. which is when seminary starts but still- get up!!
third he needs to learn how to take a regular -say 15 min. shower. when i get him up in the morning he takes a 25-30 min HOT shower. his roomates are going to love their cold showers and hopefully break him of this habit. he also uses 2 towels every time, one for his body and one for his hair, and they are new every time! he will quickly learn those dollars for the washer and dryer go fast!
fourth he needs to learn how to use his money wisely. he has a pretty cush life especially being the only child at home, the baby, and a clothes horse so he has some learning to do about scrimping at college. he does have one thing going for him he loves the salvation army and savers and is so excited to get to DI (utah's form of goodwill) to check it out. caleb had no gas and i told him to take the recycling which we do both for the earth and for caleb's pocket money. he went and took it, got some money and went straight to salvation army where he proudly brought home several plaid shirts and some vests! i told him good luck with your gas! which of course i bought for him later (could that be part of the problem?!) .
we never had any of this with kiley, she was so independent and responsible, can you say B.O.Y?
there are several others such as food, entertaining yourself with no money, being happy on sunday just being at home enjoying the day, and probably a few more but for now these are the lessons he really needs to learn!

7 comments:

Sondra said...

Don't worry. He'll learn, and the best part is you won't know when he uses two towels or sleeps in late. It's so much easier that way.

Amalie said...

I'm laughing because my sister had all these habits you just mentioned when she left for college and she's a girl. She's learning though!

Darah said...

Yes, he will definitely learn and he just may surprise you when he comes back home for the breaks:-) At least you won't have to worry about waking him up and making sure he has gas money in his hand. He'll be just fine:-)

U'i and Kahana said...

yes. definitely BOY! i had to learn a few of those lessons myself after i graduated too. my debit card?......so not good. i overdrafted ALL the time. i LOVE hot showers myself! and im STILL getting a grip on spending my $money$ wisely. i've improved a lot! but still need to get better. i just love shopping! dont worry, im sure he'll do fine : )

Cami said...

That sounds a lot like Paul, Brian's brother that lived with us for the summer. Brian had a rule that he had to be up and dressed by 9 am every day, (and we still had to wake him up!). He would call all the time and have us check online what his acct balance was, which drove me up the wall. And, his room always smelled like a wet dog b/c of all of the towels on the floor. Don't worry, college and a mission will knock all those habits!

Anonymous said...

Ahh, I love Caleb. When you figure out how to kill those habbits, will you give me a lesson.

Denae said...

This is why he needs to go out on his own... he will be learning it all the tough way. Although I feel for him on the shower thing. Hopefully he'll live in an apartment building that has unlimited hot water. I never learned the lesson.