Help Me Make It Through My Daughter's Senior Year!!!!

Senior Women, lol. Tell her there are 2 kinds of woman; class & no class, which one will she choose. Well good for the Principal for saying something, I hope other parents were outraged like you.

My daughter didn't party or go out much at all in high school in fact I had to push her to go out with friends, she was quite the homebody. So I have the opposite problem as you but I still had to do things for my daughter to keep her occupied.

In my daughters senior year she worked part time, volunteered, did an internship for the field she was interested in. We did lots of research on careers. We visited tons of colleges; even if I knew there was no way she would go there, but it kept her occupied and excited.

Good luck, hang in there.

I agree that since she is not in sports or any other school sponsored extracurricular activities, she needs to either get a job or start a full time volunteering schedule.

Also you need to have a conversation about your expectations of her behaviors, responsibilities and attitude. Her grades need to meet a standard, decide what that should be and what the consequences for her behaviors, attitudes and grades will be.

I always remind seniors that you may think you know what you are going to do once you graduate, but your senior year, making poor choices, taking dangerous chances and dangerous behaviors can ruin all of it.

We had a student in town who was drinking and driving and killed his best friend.

We had a student jump off of a side of a cliff after a night of partying.. He missed his original year of college.

And of course we all know the couples that the girl ends up pregnant her senior year. Changes all of their lives forever.

All of these kids had great futures ahead of them..

All of these were things that could have been avoided.

Give her more responsibilities,

you decide what will work to keep her on track and prepare her for college next fall.

She will need to start paying for her car insurance, her cell phone. If she wants a fancy laptop for college you will match her savings.

If she wants a car, she needs to come up with the down payment and the insurance.

Let her know you will only be able to give her $100. a month spending money while she is in college, so she needs to save up if she wants more, or if she wants to join a sorority, she will need to come up with the dues.. etc.

Prom you will give her $150. for the entire prom.. any more and she will need to pay the amount..

Whatever motivates her work on it..

I also strongly suggest you get the group f parents of the friends that your daughter hangs out with and meet with them and come up with the expectations and rules you are ALL going to enforce.

For instance in Texas, parents are not allowed to give any alcohol to any person under the age of 21, unless it is their own child..

If a party is held at your home and alcohol is made available to the underage, you will be arrested..

Of course no drugs can be tolerated and yes, weed is an illegal substance.

There needs to be a curfew. And parents need to keep in touch with each other about the parties gatherings etc.. and agree that nothing good ever happens after midnight.

We actually had a large group of moms, we would meet once a month and discuss, what was coming up for volunteer opportunity, money making events, etc.. with our children's senior year..

Here the snior class has to raise the money for their own prom, and their own Graduation night lock in.. They have to come up with the senior project.. etc.. and so the parents are the ones that are also supposed to help out.

It is a busy school year and the more you all work together, the more pairs of eyes and ears can help make it a safe year.

Invite the parents over for a meet and greet and talk about what is going on, and come up with some agreed communications.. email, cell phones, addresses.. etc..

Get on the same page, it makes all of you a stronger force with your children.

Well, then I guess she needs another job! She'll be RICH!

Maybe you can take a cooking class together, or something to that effect.

Volunteering adds ONE FULL POINT to your GPA.

Can she and all her friends hang out at your house?

:)

It sounds like you have an older teen with too much idle time on her hands. It sounds like she should be spending more time on her school work and a lot less time partying. If it were me, I'd make her work more hours during the week and monitor her studies a lot better. She would be losing a lot of those "empty hours" to more studying to improve her grades so she doesn't end up not getting to go to her school of choice. Don't just hope for the best, buckle down and do something about it!

Well, senior year is no year to slack off academically or otherwise. If she has a rotten transcript, she may find her college plans have changed. I would look into tutoring if her grades are slipping. There are tutors that can come to your house, or you can take her to Sylvan or similar. And maybe rather than empty hours, she has to do some volunteer work. You say her college plans are set, but nothing wrong with helping it out at the end. And it's work experience to say she (for example) organized bingo night at a nursing home once a week.

If my DD brought home that shirt, we'd have a long talk and that shirt would go away. I'd ensure it would never be found. In one piece.

There's a lot of push/pull in the senior year - feeling more adult, yet being afraid to leave home, yet not being fully ready, yet having to fly....expect more tears and more short tempers. Especially with girls. We take SD to college in a few days and I can't tell you the tears we've seen. It's just so stressful. So even though you give her room to fly, tell her when she needs to do a little correcting on her flight path. That's what parents are for.

It is so difficult to tamp down the flames of senioritis. I know, I am living with one, too. Fortunately, my dgtr is secretary of the senior class and I was asked my opinion of some shirt slogans and voted them down. I did lose the big battle on the school wide spirit shirt, and it will be outlawed to wear at school because the word "hell" is on the shirt. Big Sigh!

My advice for you is to get her started on the essays and writing assignments she has to submit for when she moves up to the university level. Maybe by explaining to her that her writing is at a high point right now with all her education, she can began preparing the essays that will get her in the college she desires in the future.

My poor kiddo is so wiped out right now due to cheerleading, class senate, summer homework (last minute) and freshman initiation plans, she is snoozing on the sofa right next to me at only 10:53 CST!

Good luck to you and your daughter, hopefully we ALL make it through this year and can commiserate this time next year about starting college!

Mother of boys here, but I have LOTS of sisters.
so sorry. Hang in there.

From the many examples I have seen over the years, if kids are going to go downhill and get in major trouble it begins in 9th and 10th grades. If they make it till senior year, you are pretty much guaranteed they are going to graduate. I don't know what exactly you are worrying about her doing, but I don't think you have to worry if she's made it this far.

As far as "getting into trouble" goes, if she is going to college next year, remember that this is a transition year for her. IMO sometimes it's good for them to try out some things while still under the supervision of their parents, and not just let loose in their first year of college.

I don't think you need to worry.

p.s. Was she involved in the making of that shirt? Just tell her you think it's tacky, and they could have done better.

it looks like the principal has already addressed the shirts and may choose to put more restraints on the decision making of the entire class. That isn't fair, but it looks like they all need more guidance. You said your daughter's college plans are set--what does that mean? She will still need to maintain some grades and pass to be accepted to any college. Is she applying for any financial aid or scholarships? Does she want to go the sorority route? All of these things require a good balance of leadership and volunteerism in addition to studies. Can she take dual enrollment classes at a local community college? Have high expectations of you daughter and expect her to have meaningful things to do during her senior year. Encourage her to be at her best. If she has too much time on her hands, get her to add more work hours. Good luck, I am sorry you are dreading this year--think positively!