[F30lolz]

My son began school at Purdue University recently as a 17 year old freshman. He was fortunate to graduate from HS a year early and is embarking on a journey that has made my wife and I proud. He has his learners permit and a bicycle on campus so a vehicle isn’t needed for him at the moment as we’re about an hour and 40 minutes from campus.

He has three other roommates and so far they’re all getting along well. One of them is from WA state, another from NYC and another somewhere in Indiana. He has a fridge/microwave and I spoiled them with a TV for their living room (not shown). His GF is a freshman at IU so it’ll be interesting to see if they’ll last. Regardless, some pics attached and the last one was his first day at Kindergarten on September 2012 in NY. Sorry if some of them are making you stand on your head.

[mjj]

Dad- job well done.

[FrankMstein]

I used to work in Shelbytucky haha, JK. I lived in Fishers and my daughter went to IU med.

[wtwo3]

Congrats, and boiler up!

I graduated undergrad from Purdue back in 2007. Great school and a beautiful campus. It's changed significantly since I went there - I was just on campus earlier this year and stopped for a delicious burger at Triple XXX restaurant. Hope your son does well!

[floridaorange]

My sons are in 7th & 1st - I’m always on the lookout for the advice nobody gives out.

Congrats - he looks healthy, fulfilled - which is a big deal for someone that age, and confident 👍

[2000cs]

Is there another college where the mascot is an alcoholic drink?

Boiler Up!

[floridaorange]

^

[F30lolz]

Originally Posted by floridaorange

My sons are in 7th & 1st - I’m always on the lookout for the advice nobody gives out.

Congrats - he looks healthy, fulfilled - which is a big deal for someone that age, and confident 👍

As you should know by now, they’re up your @$$ often and probably interrupting mommy/daddy time. Trust me, when they leave the nest, you’ll be longing for those days again.

Regarding tips, here are some of the things we did and it isn’t universal and as you know, every child/situation is different. Many will agree/many will disagree but that’s fine as I welcome both positive and negative criticism.

From the time he was born until the age of 5, we lived in the Hudson Valley, about 1.5 hours from NYC. My father babysat for him weekdays when my wife and I were at work until he began Kindergarten. After work/weekends I was constantly with him by watching movies, both kid movies and movies that us adults enjoy (ie Star Wars, Casino, Training Day, etc…). I raised him how I was raised, no blinds attached. Got him into cars at a very young age by taking him to various car shows and meets in the tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT) and music. Classic Rock, 90’s Grunge, 90’s rock, etc…. We traveled frequently, locally and beyond as I wanted him to see various environments and to have a broader knowledge on various cultures.

Moved to Miami in the summer of 2013 and we constantly went to beaches, Disney/Universal/Busch Gardens, biking, camping trips, just enjoying life like we all should. Got him into little league around the age of 6 and did that for years. As a father and like every father, we want them to succeed more than us so I tried my best to provide him with a good childhood and memories. But wifey also deserves the credit as well.

He started taking some advance classes around 6th grade and we knew that he had something going for him. So we just supported him when needed and we were always there for him. However, things weren’t always peaches and cream. January 2023 he had a mental breakdown and had to see a therapist. Long story short, he was struggling in some classes and was stressed out about what to do long term. He was able to right his ship and took last year by grabbing the bull by the horns and concentrated on his studies to accomplish what he did by graduating early.



Cliff Notes: spend as much time with them and show them the world and don’t hide things from them. Heck, when he was 4 I let him watch the music video from Green Jelly - Three Little Pigs. And let him watch American Psycho I think back in 2017 when he was about 10.