OT: Mentoring produces a a nice feeling

[cbelt3]

I stopped at my favorite Chinese restaurant last night, and was greeted with great news and open arms by the proprietors. Their daughter is graduating from my alma mater with her BS in Civil Engineering, passed the FE exam (precursor to Professional Engineer), has a summer internship, a full scholarship for her MS program that starts in August, and a full time job when she completes that program in December, with a high quality Construction Engineering company in Cleveland.

I've been providing quiet mentoring ... educational and career, to this brilliant young lady for the last decade. I'm very proud of her. And it feels good !

I wish MY kids would listen to me !!

[Lemon Drop]

well done sir!

[Paul F.]

Excellent!







(For a moment, I thought this was going to be about the couch surfing stripper... but that's just me....)

[haikuman]

Nice work cbelt3. Enjoy the moment ~!~

[lost in space]

Nice work!

Our own kids aren't expected to listen to us. Maybe it's why mentoring involves people outside the immediate family. Uncles did it when I was growing up, though not with the outcome you helped along.

Our 13 YO son is having a rite of passage in a few weeks, spending 24 hours solo, in the woods. There's a team of young adult males he's known through summer camps for about 6 years that will be nearby, checking on him, answering questions, and providing guidance. He'll keep a journal of the experience. We're on the edge of our seats, hoping he doesn't come running terrified back to camp.

Sad that the whole mentoring thing is largely lost in modern times, especially for the boys. Some girls get it as they approach reproductive age, but boys don't have anything like that.

In Japan, they have celebrations as kids reach certain age milestones.

[testcase]

"(For a moment, I thought this was going to be about the couch surfing stripper... but that's just me....) "



Yeah, what ever happened there????? :dunno:

[PeterB]

Congrats!

I know how it goes ... one of the Freshmen I first mentored at my institution has just let me know that she's been accepted to a Ph.D. program... how time flies...

[cbelt3]

testcase wrote:
"(For a moment, I thought this was going to be about the couch surfing stripper... but that's just me....) "



Yeah, what ever happened there????? :dunno:

She's got her own apartment. We still see her from time to time. She's been working hard at getting an internship for the summer doing Social Work (that's her degree major). She spent a week doing outreach work with some school program in New Orleans over spring break. She seems to be settling down, but she still drinks too much when she's working. I worry about her.

I did put my foot down and insist that when she shows up to crash on the couch after work that she at least wears a nightgown to sleep in. My daughter still laughs about "the morning daddy came and woke me up with a stunned look on his face". The image of this girl that I watched grow up from about age 7 asleep on my couch wearing just a thong was sort of disturbing at several levels.

[Racer X]

FANTASTIC!

On the subject of our own kids not listening.. A number of Plains Indian tribes fostered out their kids after the first few years, so they were taught by their aunts and uncles, and tribal elders. It removes the emotional bias within the family.

I got far more respect and attention from the kids in Sea Scouts I was leading than I get from my SO's teenage boys. But then, I'm stuck with the damage their dad did. (sigh)


Anyway, Congrats to both you and her.

[testcase]

"The image of this girl that I watched grow up from about age 7 asleep on my couch wearing just a thong was sort of disturbing at several levels."




PICTURES!!!!! We need pictures........ :villagers:



.....or at least good sketches from memory! :wink: