Parent Weekend

[AF6872]

I have said before, on I day sitting on Stribling DD was tired and hungry but when I asked her how the day was she answered "I have had coaches yell at me more". For PPW two roommates from High School came down. Going downtown with DD in Dress Whites they said it was like being with a rock star. Leave them to their own choices PPW as they will want to sleep, sleep, sleep and shower, shower, shower..

 

[OldRetSWO]

Your DS also maybe sick. Most Plebes get ill during training because they are tired weak and illness becomes epidemic because everyone is on low immune.

Your mileage may vary but neither my son nor I experienced this during our plebe summers and nor did our roommates and close companymates. I've seen lots of folks here post about "plebe hack" and in total honesty, have never seen it or heard of it from the many USNA families that I've known.

As a caution, I would bring with you DS prescription drugs

REALLY bad idea unless you want to get them in trouble.

 

[CrewDad]

This is not fake news OldRetSWO. People get sick people don’t many do many don’t. If you didn’t good for you if your friends didn’t good for them. It happens.

 

[OldRetSWO]

This is not fake news OldRetSWO. People get sick people don’t many do many don’t. If you didn’t good for you if your friends didn’t good for them. It happens.

Of course there are plebes who get sick. "Most" is another story.

As for bringing in prescription meds from home, Mids as is the case for all US military people are supposed to have their medical status and medications documented in their official medical record. Circumventing that system is not a good idea for a number of reasons.

 

[P_N]

This is not fake news OldRetSWO. People get sick people don’t many do many don’t. If you didn’t good for you if your friends didn’t good for them. It happens.

Of course there are plebes who get sick. "Most" is another story.

As for bringing in prescription meds from home, Mids as is the case for all US military people are supposed to have their medical status and medications documented in their official medical record. Circumventing that system is not a good idea for a number of reasons.

I agree with @OldRetSWO especially about “bringing fresh antibiotics” per CrewDad. That is bad advice. Antibiotics are used for bacterial illness. unless you have your own culture kit and laboratory, you shouldnt be giving anyone antibiotics. And giving them to someone they weren’t originally prescribed for is reckless as well as any prescription written by a provider to a person whom they haven’t seen to examine and diagnose (illegal). Imagine if they had some sort of reaction to them and your plebe trying to explain to the USNA medical staff why they took an unknown pill their parent told them take. Plus antibiotic course of treatment is 7-10 days. So are you suggesting your plebe hide them for the remainder of the course or just take them for the few days you see them, which then is the leading cause of super bugs and why people develop resistance to simple antibiotics used to cure the once common bacterial illnesses. Antibiotics taken for virus, not bacteria, actually wear down the immune system, not build it up. Sleep would be the better cure. I apologize if this sounds like preaching, and I’m sure CrewDad meant no harm by his post.

 

[MidCakePa]

+1 to @P_N and @CrewDad. Don’t encourage or enable your plebe to skirt the system. They’re in the Navy now — still your kid, but the Navy’s mid. Trust the system. It’s not perfect, but it’s what your kid signed up for for the next nine years, minimum.

Yes, it’s stressful to no longer be involved in your kid’s health care and everyday wellbeing. But there’s a term of this: “adulting.” You’ve helped them get this far and they still need you, to be sure. But encourage them to FIO: figure it out. At this point, a parent’s greatest gift is to teach their kid how to advocate for themselves. Better than a plebe summer’s worth of care packages.

 

[Temple17]

Your DS will not be able to stay with you overnight. However he will have the majority of the day to be with you throughout the weekend. My year the liberty schedule for parents weekend was as follows:
Friday: Noon to 10pm
Saturday: After the 9am parade to Midnight
Sunday: 8am to 6pm
During the hours of liberty you can do whatever you want with your son as long as you stay within 35 miles of the Academy chapel.

Your DS will be very fatigued after Plebe Summer and will mainly want to relax in your hotel room/Airbnb and eat good food. You can tour the Annapolis/Baltimore/DC area but your son will likely prefer just relaxing. During my parents weekend I went to DC one day but the other two days I just hung out at my parents Airbnb and fired up the grill.

 

[ders_dad]

For those who’ve been there, done that, what’s works better for PPW, Airbnb or hotel? (Confession- we have never stayed at an Airbnb).

 

[thunderheadc6]

For those who’ve been there, done that, what’s works better for PPW, Airbnb or hotel? (Confession- we have never stayed at an Airbnb).

We did a hotel- would have liked more room to move about - the first night we stayed in and kept it low key so plebe could rest. He was ready to get away on Saturday so we traveled to Baltimore for the day and just hung out Sunday in the room - we are flying in for Herndon in May and this time staying in a condo and can't wait -

 

[MittenMan]

For our PPW we stayed in a hotel with a suite. This gives a sleeping room for your Mid and extra space. We also adopted a Mid who's parents could not come so the extra room was really a good idea. They slept a lot! Since then we have stayed at Airbnb/VRBO's houses almost exclusively. Our family likes to cook in so having a kitchen/grill is really handy. You will learn if you visit often the hunt for food can be time consuming especially if there are events. The lines at many restaurants can be long. Of course there are a ton of restaurants you can walk to all over DTA - read the thread on Annapolis restaurants on this forum; its the best thread here!) and there are many AirBnb's to rent from. Read the reviews too. Gaul's gets a lot of visits for groceries (you would drive there - that is our first stop usually). Right next to that is the Rite-Aid - they have the liquid refreshments you mid can't enjoy but you will. Good luck and have fun!