Boy oh boy did I not see August coming. It came like a flash, and was over even faster in my world. You see this is the first year that my son will be living off campus while at Uni. In true male fashion, Randal did not spend a second thinking about what he would need for the apartment that he and two friends will be sharing. In some ways this drives me bonkers, but especially when it came down to the selection of his new Silentnight Oberon Mattress I realised the upside to his nonchalant demeanour.

If he had been a girl he would have had long lists with titles such as Things I Absolutely Need to Get, Things I Would Like to Get, Things I Would Really Really Love to Get. The process of accruing said items would have probably sucked up the entire summer, and even then she most likely would have been disgruntled at being told no about a couple of things that were completely unnecessary. I imagine things would not have been left till the last minute, and would have been cluttering our rooms and halls for months on end. Which would have been another point of contention.

But knowing how this would all play out with Randal, I had my own properly allocated, concise list. Though it was a major triumph when I actually got him to accompany me to the shops, it all went smoothly. He listened to my recommendations, and there was no whining, or debates. Now do not get me wrong, I equally adore my daughter, but things work very differently when you are dealing with a teenage girl than a teenage boy. Our girl is completely consumed in having all the right stuff, and lots of it, and our boy is happy to wear the same pair of jeans for days in a row if it means no hassle.

This was exceedingly clear as we discussed the advantages of several mattresses, and Randal deferred to my opinion. Yes, that’s right all you parents of teens out there, my input was important. Whether he listened to anything I said about the Silentnight Mattresses, I will never truly know, but since he ended up with one because I recommended it, well that suits me just fine. It cut down the time we spent shopping substantially, and because we waited to get it, it was on sale. I was so pleased with the over all result of our whirlwind preparations that I caved and bought him a Wii with the money we saved. Which I personally hold the high score in bowling now.