Staying In Touch

SUMMARY:

It happens quickly, doesn't it.  The 18 years you've had with your children.  You've been involved in their activities, learned to love their friends, and even made life-long friends with those parents.  And then, it happens.  Your life changes, seemingly in an instant.  

Staying in touch changes.  Completely.  You have to make more of an effort to touch base with and keep up with not only your child, but the friends you've made through them.  

Normally we discuss money, legal matters, taxes and more.  Our mission is to facilitate more knowledge that just typically isn't covered for we parents with almost-flown and just-flown kids.  

But today, we thought we'd give you a great idea on how to stay in touch with people that through the years you've grown to like and love.  You aren't seeing them anymore.  

These very challenges are happening to us, too.  

Here is an fun idea worth considering that allows you to do all three:  touch base with your "just-flown" child, their friends, and those parents that you've sat near at a football game, survived a parent-teaching event, and more.  

The Parent Boxing Party

Ok, ignore the name.  This is fun, we promise.  

  • Reach out to parents that you'd like to stay in touch with
    • the parents ideally should be from your son or daughter's graduating class
  • Keep the total # manageable.  (we grouped people into 12's)
    • yes, you can do more than one group if you'd like
  • Invite them to a "boxing party"
  • What do they bring?
    • an empty shippable box
    • little small priced gifts, 1 for each child represented by parents
      • in our example, this would mean bringing 12 "somethings"
      • yes, the "somethings" can all be the same
    • little notes or tags for each of there gifts (again, 12 in this example)
  • At the host's table, each parent puts their "gifts" in a pile on the table
    • In this instance, there would be 12 individual piles
  • Everyone takes the shipping box that they brought, walks around the table picking 1 item from each pile and places them in their own box
  • When done, each person, in this instance, would have 12 individual gifts from the 12 parents represented in the box that they will ship to their own son or daughter.  If notes or a "missing you" tag or "see you at Christmas" tag is attached to those gifts, then so much the better.  Your child will get to read a short sentence or two from parents they've grown to like through those high school years.
  • The parents take their own box home and ship it themselves to their own child.

Additional Thoughts:

  • You can declare a "theme" for the evening and the gifts can revolve around it.  Example:  finals, Valentine's Day, and so forth.
  • Important:  we suggest you make declare a limit on how much these little "gifts" cost.  You could even declare the items to be no more than $1 and go to the dollar store for them.  
  • Gift ideas:  small bags of chips, notepads, sanitizer bottles, crazy socks, microwave popcorn bags, microwavable soup containers.  
  • Avoid things that melt.  
  • Optional:
    • you could make this a pot-luck and each parent brings a snack for the boxing party group to enjoy OR
    • if you want to do these parties 2x (fall, spring), then 1/2 the group could bring something one time, and the rest take round 2.
  • Suggestion:
    • Encourage positive conversation, but as we know sometimes those first few months can be a challenge for some kids when they first leave home.  Having someone monopolize the conversation with how great things are for their "just-flown" child can be a bit of a challenge for those that have a child that's struggling.  

We have fun at these events and are sure that you can, too.  We'd love to hear about yours if you choose to do this.  So take a photo and send it to us or post in the comments below.  

This is a great way to stay in touch, catch up, and hear all about the new things happening in everyone's life.  It's a win-win all the way around.

Oh, AND the biggest PLUS?

The minute your child gets their "care package" from you (and by extension, the parents of their friends), they get excited!  Odds are, they will pick up the phone and actually phone you.  Hey, there are times when settling for a "thanks Mom" text is an amazing occurrence.  Either way, you've made your "just-flown" child a very happy individual!

Have fun everyone and as we say at JellyGeneration:

You CAN Have Success in the Middle of it ALL

Pam and Holly

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If you found this helpful, would you mind hitting the "like" button?  We intend on keeping our educational content (videos, blogs, podcasts)  all ad-free and those "likes" help tremendously.  We do occasionally offer educational courses over and above our parent development information offered freely and as regularly as possible.  Commercials with crazy stuff can easily distract, so it is our desire to self-fund and stay ad-free.  So thank you so much for your support, your comments, and your "likes".
 
PS 2: Free Parent Guide
We've put together a free "8-Step Parent Planning Guide" that is stuffed full of information you might want to teach your "nearly-flown" child.  It's a parent time-saver, and gives you concrete lessons to use at your discretion.  Developed by parents previously in your shoes, we know you will find it super helpful.  
Here's the link for it: 8-Step Parent Planning Guide
 
Who Is JellyGeneration?

Pam Hardison, MBA, BBA in Finance and Business Education, has created and co-owned a national mail order catalog which at one point was the 21st fastest growing customerbase in the nation.  As a mom of two college-post college daughters, considers it a privilege and to meet other students and parents along the same road.   After teaching high school and college students for years, her commitment to helping them with topics most schools can't cover is the light that drives her.  

Holly Powers, Attorney-At-Law (Jameson & Powers, P.C.) has been actively practicing law since 1985 and is a shareholder with the law firm of Jameson & Powers, P.C.  The firm specializes in transactional law, health care law, and general business law.  Holly has taught students precepts concerning the legal world for over 10 years.  With 4 children, she understands what teens need to know and has a passion to help others faced with teens and aging parents.  

 

 

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