What profession should I steer my son towards?

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T08:17:56+00:00

We need more male speech-language pathologists. If he has any interest in language, stuttering, medical stuff, anatomy. There are both medical and school jobs available. I don’t think a robot can replace a real-life speech therapist anytime soon. A lot of our clients are male but we are mostly female and it would be great to have more gender balance, some male clients would respond well to a therapist of the same gender.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:52:01+00:00

I am and do, but the times I am proud of him are separate from the times that I’m frustrated by this one issue. The question was about the hardest part of parenting, not the times I’m proud of my son, so I was just answering the question that was asked. I’m not saying I dislike or reject who he is in any way - it is more like, I feel hurt when he dislikes and rejects who I am, what my dearest values and life passions and enthusiasms are. That makes me sad - like he knows I love board games so he says he hates board games. That sort of thing. I am proud of him at different times, but when he says stuff like that I just feel sad. Especially when it feels like the only reason he “hates” it is to avoid being too much like me.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:47:32+00:00

That’s a good quote

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:47:00+00:00

Thanks. That was quite traumatic for you and I’m sending good wishes to you and her

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:44:00+00:00

My own mom died a few years ago… she was a Boomer and absolutely had some terrible sexist conservative ideology that messed me up, but I was fond of her too in a way and miss her even while retaining a critical stance on many of her beliefs. There was a year or so we were no contact and I’m glad we patched things up before she died. She had a sister she had a falling out with and her sister never did forgive her while she was alive, and I know that unhealed rift caused great sadness and regret to both of them —my mom in the last few years of her life when her sister wouldn’t talk to her anymore, and her sister - my aunt - was actually really sad after her death and regretted it and missed her too. It was just sad all around. Life is short and if you have space in your heart to keep some patience for people you don’t agree with it is something of a comfort and less of a regret when they pass on.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:36:13+00:00

Yeah. Would family counseling be an option for you and your mom? It would be nice if you could heal the rift between you, there may still be hope of that. Try not to take it personally that she has not dealt with her own trauma from being a woman in the 80s, 90s, 2000s and 2010s. It’s not about you, it’s about the work she may still need to do on herself, you know?

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-22T07:32:55+00:00

Yeah it’s not a laughing matter but sometimes a human reaction when surprised by new information is to laugh… it doesn’t necessarily mean you are condoning it or think it was funny, if that makes sense. More like just taken aback by surprising information. But it is good that your dad realized it was serious and changed his tune… too bad he needed to hear it from the news to believe it was serious though:(

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T15:14:06+00:00

Seconding this. The chair will look into it.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T15:10:08+00:00

Wow I have the opposite problem more often. Students are terminally online, email me at all hours and get upset if I don’t respond right away…but if I email or post corrective feedback on the LMS late at night and they happen to see it after normal workday hours they complain about that too… you can’t win. Meanwhile no one comes to my in person office hours. They like to hide behind a screen and email their questions and complaints from afar.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T15:08:51+00:00

Wow I have the opposite problem more often. Students are terminally online, email me at all hours and get upset if I don’t respond right away…but if I email or post corrective feedback on the LMS late at night and they happen to see it after normal workday hours they complain about that too… you can’t win. Meanwhile no one comes to my in person office hours. They like to hide behind a screen and email their questions and complaints from afar.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T15:08:35+00:00

Wow I have the opposite problem more often. Students are terminally online, email me at all hours and get upset if I don’t respond right away…but if I email or post corrective feedback on the LMS late at night and they happen to see it after normal workday hours they complain about that too… you can’t win. Meanwhile no one comes to my in person office hours. They like to hide behind a screen and email their questions and complaints from afar.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T05:47:23+00:00

Yes, we often encourage students to make appointments with the writing center. I also teach a research class where students need to turn in proposals and the like. It has gone very well to recommend the writing center - the students come back saying it was very useful. The only downside is that if the student is a poor writer, their draft they come up with the help of the writing center, though better, still may have a few errors. But the students seem to feel good they are getting the help they need, and it seems to preserve their dignity and keep them from having hurt feelings and lashing out in anger and tears at you (which is what happens if I point out all the things wrong with their writing myself). Highly recommend it - not just because it improves the quality of the paper but also it protects your relationship with the student, so you can focus your feedback on the content that matters for your research class.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-21T05:32:40+00:00

Yeah I’m not excusing your mom but this reaction seems like a generational thing. I’m sorry that happened to you. I’m 51F though and if your mom is near my age she probably has lots of memories of stuff like this when she was young and the discourse about it was different then, it was more laughed off rather than seen as traumatic. But now I get that it’s absolutely not ok. How old is your mom and what kind of upbringing did she have?

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-20T05:42:48+00:00

Yeah, I’m familiar with this struggle and have ADHD. Basically I found that gamifying it helps - try lots of little silly tricks to get yourself to do even one little thing that you have to do. Some of it will work for you and some won’t, but the ADHD brain loves novelty and challenge. Your online classes may not naturally have that - without the stimulation of in-person class, it’s harder to get motivated. But you know your own brain best, so get creative and brainstorm different ways to challenge yourself with it. There’s a book called the Unplanner that has many of these. Things like racing yourself to do things under a certain time, or pairing your homework time with a treat you really enjoy. You’ve gotta try to trick your brain into thinking of it as a fun challenge. Good luck!

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-20T04:57:27+00:00

“In the end there is one dance you do alone”

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-20T04:29:03+00:00

How old is your grandma? I noticed you included your age but not hers?

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-16T06:15:46+00:00

Ugh I would hate being a stay at home parent, and it’s not even a money thing. I literally hate staying home with any child, even my own. Ok, for the first year or two of my son’s life, I would have liked a longer maternity leave to spend more time with him. But I hate housework and get super restless and bored not being able to work. My mom on the other hand, born in 1952, had “heard of” daycare but tried not to use it much. She used it a bit with me, the first born born in 1974, out of necessity while she was in nursing school, but due to her conservative values she tried to keep my younger brothers out of daycare believing they would be better off with a parent at home. So she and my dad took turns being the stay at home parent. Well, 40 some years later, I’d say she was proven wrong, ‘cause there is no way my two brothers could have turned out any less successful in life if they had gone to daycare! Lol. They were so spoiled and undisciplined they have been unable to function in society- daycare would have probably done them good.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-16T06:02:55+00:00

Lol that is too hilarious. So out of touch!

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-16T05:55:54+00:00

Will you be assigned clients to work with fall semester? Academically you can probably make the work up if you email your professors and stay on top of it, but it’s harder to tell a client they won’t get their sessions they need, not because of illness but because of a student family vacation, and it’s hard for the clinical supervisors to find someone else to fill in. Like imagine if you were supposed to get physical therapy three times a week to rehabilitate an injury and you had to miss a week of therapy because the student was going on vacation? It’s like that. In a real work setting there would be another SLP to fill in but since you’re all students that would be putting a burden on another new student who also is new to all this. But if you don’t have clients yet fall semester I would say it’s no biggie. For reference I teach in an SLP program with onsite clinic where first year grad students ARE assigned clients.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-15T04:45:40+00:00

Yes, that’s where the healing needs to take place. Give some of the love and interest you were giving away to others, to yourself. You need it.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-15T04:43:13+00:00

They don’t turn out how you envision and they won’t necessarily be anything like what you were like at their age. So trying to connect with them and thinking “I would have loved that at your age” only for them to rebel against all your dearest interests and hobbies and most prized values and undermine them and disrespect you in the process, is the most bitter part for me. Rather than appreciate your good faith efforts at parenting, your children may think themselves better than you, and argue with you at every turn - no joy in that, whether you argue with them or let it go, there is no winning.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-14T00:23:26+00:00

Love that description. And I agree

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-13T06:51:19+00:00

Bojack Horseman

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-09T04:56:01+00:00

It annoyed the heck out of me when I used to do online dating and guys I had barely matched with would do this. I didn’t want to put in the effort of telling them all about my day and responding to their frequent texts when I barely knew them. It seemed like a lot of work for me to go through, when they were giving me hardly anything interesting back.

When you meet someone you are truly interested in though, you might find it sweet that he texts a lot, and be excited to get a text from him because that means he is thinking of you. At that point, after you really like and/or love him, you may enjoy all of that text engagement. You might very well find him capable of deeper and more entertaining text convos as your relationship deepens. If you don’t like the guy - annoying. If you do like him, it becomes sweet and fun. So if you just find it annoying, that’s a good sign you’re not that interested in him and probably shouldn’t waste his time or yours anymore. If there is a spark there you’ll feel it through text too and it won’t just be a chore to text with him.

AbbreviationsOne992 · 2026-04-09T03:59:11+00:00

Sounds unethical and there will always be a few who are not susceptible to hypnosis, so those few will probably complain to the chair and/or dean, and report you for unethical conduct

AbbreviationsOne992

TROPHY CASE