Class of '18 nervously waiting.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

They've left college, now we are trying not to think about a certain date.

I've never had so many rows with dd before. We never used to argue. It's getting really upsetting.

The sum total of our shopping for moving away is a puffy under jacket thingy purchased yesterday. At a stretch I might also add the climbing rope we bought on holiday because if she gets in to her firm, the local climbing wall doesn’t supply ropes. I too will be blitzing when this becomes real two weeks from today. DD is worse though because any talk of her “going away” is immediately deflected.

We've sat down together and looked through the budget planner on the Money Advice Centre website. It's good because it has a long list of expenditure items that he would not otherwise have thought of (haircuts, laundry, dental checks). Clothes - "I have clothes" (yes dear, but you might want replacements/new)

I am also in denial, it feels like tempting fate to actually do anything yet! I bought a new duvet ages ago when the dreaded day seemed so very faraway but that’s it!

Our dentist has said he will keep dd on as an nhs patient, even though he usually only does private work and nhs kids.

ds has been getting lots of emails from his confirmed uni. No work related stuff though, what would be nice is a reading list.. mostly facebook groups for his course.
And of course we have already had all the accommodation information, turn up day etc.

big meltdown here about everything from assorted family members; accordingly some of us are staying here for a few more days rather than go to sweltering Berlin en masse. A nice reprieve, however ds is now playing Fortnite.
I can at least clean the house a bit.
I'm planning to throw ds out of his [large] bedroom and give him the telly room as a bedroom for the holidays, moving him temporarily into ds2's boxroom, and ds2 into large bedroom. Needless to say this has not gone down very well. He does spend so much time in the telly room you would have thought it was a home from home..

Kitten it is anxiety in some cases, but it is also a developmental stage to argue with older adults. All I know is that dd and ds1 do it all the time. Ds2 doesn't but I think he went through that stage when he was younger now he is terribly wise and constantly suggesting anger management techniques (which infuriates the others)..along lines of now lets just all calm down and keep very very quiet. My theory is that rows can be helpful if you resolve the issues but not if they are just letting off steam.

Miracles do happen. My dcs have jsut helped me clean and polish ‘downstair’ And the upstairs bathroom!

Now they have return to,their computers. All this lovely weather and they are in their rooms staring at a screen.

I actually had a row with ds2 this morning. He tried to take my laptop to Berlin on the grounds that he needed it, I resisted, dh resisted, but then he explained he needed to do some A level preparation on it, and got very anxious and we realised it wasn't just a security blanket but an actual project he had in mind..anyway, who knows, it wasn't worth arguing about so he took it. I'm using someone else's now!

That's helpful of your dentist kitten.

Our dentist has done this also, however to get it completely free DS had to fill in a huge form - think its HC1, which they gave him. It is for all NHS charged services including prescriptions. You can fill it in and claim a refund. Also easier filled in when started at uni.

DS only got a partial exemption because of a bursary he got the first year. Didn't bother filling it in last year, (its very long...)

i just tried to make DD an appointment to have the MenACWY that there are meant to have before starting Uni, but they wouldn't let me. Apparently DD has to phone up herself even though they aren't giving me any information. I explained that she was at work, but that doesn't matter. She has to phone.

Hi everyone! Back from our holiday today with a big bump!
Can't believe it's 2 weeks today.

Apparently I'm no longer allowed to ostrich - DD has just asked me for a box so she can start packing up some bits.
I haven't even finished unpacking the holiday cases yet!
She obviously had in her head that she'd start after holiday and that is today.

She's also come home to an email inviting her for a weeks work experience - from 2 different barristers chambers!
She applied to loads at the beginning of summer, but didn't actually expect to get anything as most only seem to take students from 2nd year and up.

So now to sort out a weeks accommodation for her in London. It's the week after results so will be good for her to have something positive to focus on after that.

I think it’s anxiety on their part and ours, patience is running out! I don’t remember being as stressed about my a level results all those years ago but the pressures seem much greater now. A few of ds’s friends are suddenly talking about last minute changes of plans; different uni’s, taking a gap year etc and I’m sure it’s just that confidence crisis a lot of them are experiencing. Trying to keep busy is just the worst thing!

adrinkofwater - snap!

The lady on the phone at the surgery laughed when I said DS had never made himself an appointment before. She said they will give him a print out of all his vaccinations to date when he goes in.

DS has managed to make doctor's appointment but remains baffled with the procedure for repeat prescriptions. I told him to keep the copy of the prescription safe and that he'd need it again in a month but that worked just as well as you'd expect.

DS has to take some paperwork with him when he goes to the surgery and I just got a blank look when I was explaining what he needed to do. He asked me to write him a list

Our surgery is clearly very understanding.

DD has had a couple of emails from UCAS and a couple from the Uni but nothing if import and no gifts. She is seeing her school mates tonight so is going to ask if anyone has received any random gifts.

Lobster what a great opportunity. That's going to be so good for your dd. Well done to her!

It's all calm again here. I think the arguments are natural too, part of them learning to separate from home. Bit like the terrible twos really. (I hope dd doesn't read this

Just a gentle warning - despite getting her place at uni DD1 had a little bit of a meltdown on results day. A mixture of relief from stress and also disappointment that on the day she didnt have anyone to celebrate with (parents dont count for this apparently).

In hindsight I didnt handle it well but am better prepared this time.

Oh gosh Gnome I can imagine that exact scenario happening with DD.

She has struggled socially recently - has lots of friends but only really one close friend who she ever made plans with. That friend has been flakey since getting serious with boyfriend, to the point where it was getting ridiculous (cancelled holiday with DD, decided at last minute not to go to prom. . Etc)

I'm guessing results day will be a similar story - I might attempt to start a conversation about what her plans are for the day, although it's been a forbidden subject so far

Thankyou though, For the heads up - I hadn't thought that far ahead at all.

I hadn't considered what he might want to do on The Day. It's difficult to find out seeing as it's the elephant in the room at the moment, I suppose I'll find out the night before. I also hadn't thought what we would do about celebrating. I was assuming that his grades would be well below what they would have been and that he'd be wanting to lick his wounds. I will settle for it being a day where I don't have to spend all of it dragging him out of a pit of despondency.

Thanks for the heads up Gnome, that's very helpful.

How difficult Lobster, it does sound like a good plan to think ahead. On GCSE results day I took dd out for afternoon tea. It was lovely, but really she did need to be with friends instead.

This time she's talking about staying at a friends over night on results night so they can all go in together in the morning. It sounds like a good idea on her behalf so I'm strongly for it, but waaah! I won't be there for her if she does that.

oh knitting :( maybe you can think of something that he really likes doing. Cinema? karting? I dunno.

DD informs me the big guy from The Chase is putting in a guest appearance at the club they are all going to on Results night. Weird gig.