They never have to deal with problems because their parents always fix them, so when they get out into the world, they have no coping skills.

This is the bulk of what I do as a coach. Teaching coping skills and strategic life skills.

Oh yeah! No email. Totally used to write letters all the time!

Okay, JZ, but Mr. Goodman probably thinks I'm a nut already.(Although we do have the same taste.) But I am a well-written nut, right?

I had a small allowance in high school because I only ever worked in the summer. Plus gas money (and a cheap but reliable car) once I turned 16, because we lived 7 miles from town and my parents were sick of waiting around to pick me up from band, drama, and Scholar's Bowl team practices that inevitably ran over. By senior year I didn't even have a curfew, not that it mattered since I had little to no social life--my parents only asked that I promise never to ride in a car driven by either of two boys from my class whose reputation as reckless drivers even for 17-year-olds my mom was aware of because she was a substitute teacher at my school.

In college I had a work-study job for spending money. My parents would send me off at the beginning of each semester with a check to cover a typical semester's books. I called once a week, collect.

My dad paid me one dollar per hour for doing farm work. But as part of that deal I got to use the family cars/truck. None of my friends had regular access to cars, so that came in handy.

My stepmother sent me $25 per week...just because. I paid my tuition loans and books, etc. I think the 'rents paid for my dining card, but I don't remember. I worked the summer before college and then each semester thereafter. Dry cleaning store, church nursery, and apartment manager.

I caused an enormous row with the Univ. president by writing an op-ed questioning the financing of the new basketball arena. He tried to bribe me with heretofore unavailable workstudy (even though I was paying the freight myself without the 'rents' help) which I refused. Mysteriously, my relatively small scholarships dried up.

The following (junior) year, I got tuition deferral (nearly 90%!) due to marrying a tangential university employee. That helped a lot.

(((Cashmere))) I'm so sorry. I hope you find another better option for Owen soon.

((((Kristin)))

I found out the other day that one of the medical supplies I use daily is being discontined. I thought I would be able to find a good alternative, but all the alternatives kind of suck. Its going to just an added daily inconvenience, not a serious health thing, but I'm still upset.

marrying a tangential university employee

Now I'm picturing an employee laying down and just touching the university border....

Can you stockpile some now, sj? I say that as a person who wandered from grocery store to grocery store buying the last of the fragrance-free Dawn.

Now there are many undergraduate women who talk to their mothers several times a day.

Thank god there weren't cellphones when I was in college.

My parents paid my tuition and board. I got a scholarship check that pretty much covered books and basic living expenses. Walking-around money for personal books, beer and sleazy bluegrass bars came from working for the college newspaper and typing papers.

My mother teaches at a university, so there'd be no chance in hell she'd call mine or my sister's. I went to a cheapie school--tuition was about $1200/semester when I graduated, and that was almost a 100% increase over when I started. Books and room and board were by far the big money items, relatively speaking.

I ran out of money once, and would never have dreamed of asking for more--I just lived on crackers for a few days and cried at the bank to get the cheque cleared faster.

My sister ran out of money all the time, but she bought herself clothes and the like. I never did. Alcohol might have been a big expense for some of the students, but I got mine from my parents anyway, so that wasn't an issue.