Beloit College recently released their annual “Mindset List,” a compilation of facts and information pertaining to the newest group of bright-eyed freshman. The list, first published in 1998, was originally a tool for Beloit faculty to prevent them from making references to their students that were out-of-date and meaningless – kind of like when I recently made some comment to one of my kids about Joe Namath and his pantyhose wearing ad.
“Who’s Joe Namath? What are you talking about?”
“Never mind.”
This year’s Mindset List (available online at beloit.edu/mindset) includes 75 reminders about our country’s incoming freshman class. Things like, to them, “Fergie” is just a famous pop singer. What’s this princess thing about? They also have no idea what it feels like to play with a long, coiled, telephone cord. Land line? Hello?
This is a group of kids who grew up with colored lapel ribbons to show support for a cause, toothpaste tubes that stand up on their caps, and hundreds of cable channels at their fingertips.
To them, Barney was a big, purple, lovable television character. Not a nutty sidekick to Andy Griffith. They have always known Ruth Bader Ginsburg to be on the Supreme Court, they never worried about a Russian missile strike, and they don’t understand that an older person pointing to their own wrist is a universal symbol for asking “Do you know what time it is?”
And, one of my favorites, this is a group of kids who think email is just way too slow. Hence, they text. And text. And text. And text.
I’m the dad of a college freshman. I’m also a dad to a college senior. In talking to many first-time college parents over the last few months, I’ve found myself being an advocate for communicating with college kids via text.
“It’s quick,” I’d tell them. “It’s easy and it won’t make your kid feel like you’re breathing down their neck.”
And I believe that. Over the last few years, I’ve gotten pretty proficient in text communications with all of my kids. It is efficient. Effective. Brief. Practical.
But, it’s still a text. It’s electronic. And, I’m beginning to come to terms with the fact that I still like warm-and-fuzzy sometimes.
Which brings me to a point I’d like to make with all of the college freshmen out there. OK, so we’ve read this list published by Beloit College. Ha, ha, ha. We get it. You live in a totally different world than we were raised in. We feel old. We’ll try to laugh at it and at ourselves. And, we’ll try to do a better job of remembering that the world changes. Way too fast.
But guess what? We have a list for you! It’s a list of what all of us parents need you to know about us. It’s really simple. Just one item. And we’d greatly appreciate it if you’d memorize it.
1. Every once in a while, out of the blue, call home. And sure, Skyping is fine. But let us hear from you occasionally. Surprise us. No text can match the feeling we have when we hear your voice.
If you can remember that about us, we promise not to roll our eyes at the fact you don’t know how to write cursive.
Deal?
Read more from the Bobblehead Dad at www.bobbleheaddad.blogspot.com.
