My girl!

My most and least favorite hashtag of this year is #izzygoestocollege. My girl is in her senior year, and while I feel as sense of accomplishment that she's grown into an incredibly cool kid, I can't help feeling that I worked really hard on this kid!! Now she's just going to take all that learnin and leave me? With four more who haven't arrived yet!!?

Gah. Rude vicious cycles. Well I plan to soak her up and pour into her every single second she's around.

Let's see. She's almost 18. And it's April. Carry the one, and five. That gives me about ten minutes where she will actually be around to tell her everything I have forgotten or failed to mention in her previous 18 years. And those ten minutes will probably separated into 45 second increments. 

One skill I want her to take with her is how to quit a job properly, followed with updating her resume/work history paperwork. 

She's been working at a local grocery store. Picture the quintessential first job. Menial labor. Random schedules. Sometimes you show up on pay day only to hear, "uh. Yah. Sorry, but the pay checks never showed up. Try again Monday." :/ 

This week, she got the blessed phone call saying she is Starbucks' newest and cutest barista. Well. They said something along those lines. The point is, Baby Girl got herself a big girl job where she's sure to meet her paycheck actually ON payday. 

As parents, it's important to give our kids the right ideas when it comes to quitting a job. We rehearsed. I gave her some ideas, and she fretted and bit her fingernails. 

"When should I give my notice??"

"Since you've got a yes for the job, and you have to give two weeks' notice, just do it on your next shift."

Then we talked strategy. 

"When you get in there, look for a good time- end of the shift or beginning. Start with a thank you for the work and for giving you this chance to get your feet wet with your first job. Tell them you you need a job you can take with you to college and fits your schedule better. Don't drag it out."

And just like that, she did it. She was so brave. I was so proud. 

The second part of this is for her benefit for years to come. Teach your kids to update they're resumes immediately with contact information, dates, names, phone numbers and addresses. How many times have you been applying for a job and you haven't a clue of the time frame for some job or another? Or the name of your supervisor- forget about it. 

Five years from now she will have four year's worth of college in her brain. She won't remember this. She won't even know she needs it until she goes to apply for another job! 

Do your kids a favor and have them collect this information while it's still milling around in their brain. 

She's not even far enough along to create a resume. Hers looks more like a simple Word document with the goods. I'll send it with her on her computer when she goes. 

Setting our kids up for success can feel like an overwhelming task. Handling these bite sized pieces makes us feel like we can actually move that mountain a smidgeon. 

~ Nonsense