What to include on a yearbook page?
September 26, 2011 10:27 AM Subscribe
What is a good quote for a parent to put on a high-school student's yearbook page?
At my son's school, parents can purchase an "ad" page for their child's yearbook to put pictures of them growing up, doing sports, attending events etc. They usually also write a message to them or include a quote. Most are the typical "I am so proud of your accomplishments/You have grown into a wonderful person." I would like to include a quote or a few lines but something a bit more original or meaningful but am at a loss. It should also not be something that an almost 18 year old boy would be embarrassed or horrified that his parents put on his page! Any ideas?
At my son's school, parents can purchase an "ad" page for their child's yearbook to put pictures of them growing up, doing sports, attending events etc. They usually also write a message to them or include a quote. Most are the typical "I am so proud of your accomplishments/You have grown into a wonderful person." I would like to include a quote or a few lines but something a bit more original or meaningful but am at a loss. It should also not be something that an almost 18 year old boy would be embarrassed or horrified that his parents put on his page! Any ideas?
Quotes from music are "cooler" than quotes from other places. How about: Out on the ocean sailing away/ I can hardly wait/ To see you to come of age/ But I guess we'll both/ Just have to be patient.
posted by phunniemee at 10:42 AM on September 26, 2011
posted by phunniemee at 10:42 AM on September 26, 2011
"What a long strange trip its been" Garcia/Hunter
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:52 AM on September 26, 2011
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:52 AM on September 26, 2011
"I guess that's the way the whole durned human comedy keeps perpetuatin' itself."
posted by michaelh at 10:54 AM on September 26, 2011
posted by michaelh at 10:54 AM on September 26, 2011
Get busy living, or get busy dying.
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:55 AM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by RolandOfEld at 10:55 AM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: "To prevent embarassing you, this spot intentionally left blank."
posted by griphus at 11:00 AM on September 26, 2011 [17 favorites]
posted by griphus at 11:00 AM on September 26, 2011 [17 favorites]
"Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, but Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present" ..... King Fu Panda, 2008
posted by rw at 11:02 AM on September 26, 2011
posted by rw at 11:02 AM on September 26, 2011
Room for Rent.
posted by FreezBoy at 11:09 AM on September 26, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by FreezBoy at 11:09 AM on September 26, 2011 [6 favorites]
Best answer: For my stepson's graduation ad, we took two inspiring quotes about great achievement with attributions (don't remember which ones, sorry), and followed them with this third:
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
-- Albus Dumbledore
posted by Mchelly at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
-- Albus Dumbledore
posted by Mchelly at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Keep calm and carry on"
posted by get off of my cloud at 11:42 AM on September 26, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by get off of my cloud at 11:42 AM on September 26, 2011 [4 favorites]
We're all bozos on this bus.
posted by Sir Cholmondeley at 11:48 AM on September 26, 2011
posted by Sir Cholmondeley at 11:48 AM on September 26, 2011
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." – Mark Twain
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." – Mark Twain
posted by Deflagro at 11:56 AM on September 26, 2011
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." – Mark Twain
posted by Deflagro at 11:56 AM on September 26, 2011
Is there a band that has been a big, meaningful part of his life? If so, the MeFi Detective Squad could totally find some amazing lyric from that artist's canon ... for instance, if my parents had done something like this for me with Rush, that would have meant the world to me.
posted by jbickers at 12:02 PM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jbickers at 12:02 PM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
It might take a perverse sense of humor to appreciate it, but:
"I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting..."
(From The Winter's Tale, of course, although I confess to getting it from Pamela Dean.)
posted by McCoy Pauley at 12:06 PM on September 26, 2011
"I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting..."
(From The Winter's Tale, of course, although I confess to getting it from Pamela Dean.)
posted by McCoy Pauley at 12:06 PM on September 26, 2011
"When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." is the first one that comes to mind (Kodachrome, Paul Simon), but it's probably not the best choice, I admit. Picking a book or movie or band that means something to them is probably a much better way to go, I agree with jbickers.
posted by lemniskate at 12:09 PM on September 26, 2011
posted by lemniskate at 12:09 PM on September 26, 2011
Some Rumi quotes:
Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.
No mirror ever became iron again; No bread ever became wheat; No ripened grape ever became sour fruit. Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse. Become the light.
Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear
posted by zia at 12:19 PM on September 26, 2011
Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself
that you have built against it.
No mirror ever became iron again; No bread ever became wheat; No ripened grape ever became sour fruit. Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse. Become the light.
Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear
posted by zia at 12:19 PM on September 26, 2011
I would just say please not anything from "Oh the Places You'll Go". That was ALL OVER my class' senior pages.
posted by brilliantine at 12:37 PM on September 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by brilliantine at 12:37 PM on September 26, 2011 [2 favorites]
It wasn't an ad, he wrote it under a photo of the two of us from some event or other: "Light foot on the accelerator, please!" I was mortified but it actually applies to me in other ways (which I guess he knew ...)
posted by thinkpiece at 2:30 PM on September 26, 2011
posted by thinkpiece at 2:30 PM on September 26, 2011
I would like to second jbickers. I'm a woman, but my mom did this with a Tori Amos lyric, and it still makes me cry. Not that I sit around reading my yearbook, but... Also, I wanted to add that if you pick something "sentimental," even if he has to act like it embarrasses him now, with time, I imagine he'd grow to appreciate it. Also seconding brillantine - you can do better!
posted by kickingthecrap at 4:37 PM on September 26, 2011
posted by kickingthecrap at 4:37 PM on September 26, 2011
"To prevent embarassing you, this spot intentionally left blank."
If I was your son, I would pay extra for you not paying to put in any statement at all.
posted by ovvl at 6:14 PM on September 26, 2011
If I was your son, I would pay extra for you not paying to put in any statement at all.
posted by ovvl at 6:14 PM on September 26, 2011
I think an ad in his yearbook is a weird place for you to be telling your son how much he means to you and how proud you are of him. Why not just write him a letter and buy him a wonderful present that he will keep and remember forever?
This ad thing almost sounds like you want to show his friends or his friends' parents that you "bought an ad" -- why make your pride for him so public?
You know what I would've loved more than anything from my dad? If he had taken me for a walk and expressed how proud he was of me, how great a person he thought I'd become, how great my potential was for the future, and how he'd have my back if I needed it when I went out in the world on my own. That would not have just made my day, that would've made my entire life, right then and there.
So, it depends on what your motives are, and how much you want to or can show your son about your feelings. :) Good luck, and congratulations to him. :)
posted by minx at 7:34 PM on September 26, 2011
This ad thing almost sounds like you want to show his friends or his friends' parents that you "bought an ad" -- why make your pride for him so public?
You know what I would've loved more than anything from my dad? If he had taken me for a walk and expressed how proud he was of me, how great a person he thought I'd become, how great my potential was for the future, and how he'd have my back if I needed it when I went out in the world on my own. That would not have just made my day, that would've made my entire life, right then and there.
So, it depends on what your motives are, and how much you want to or can show your son about your feelings. :) Good luck, and congratulations to him. :)
posted by minx at 7:34 PM on September 26, 2011
I'm going to counter the naysayers and note that I was really touched that my mom did this for me* in my yearbook. She is not good with cutesy stuff *at all* and this was before digital photos, so I think she braved Kinko's to do the photocopying and all that. She put a cute pic of me as a kid, and wrote "All you need in life is a comb, a brush and a bowl full of mush," which was of course a Goodnight Moon reference. I still love it.
*Being a girl this is a bit too sentimental for a boy I think, but just making my point!
posted by radioamy at 8:16 PM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
*Being a girl this is a bit too sentimental for a boy I think, but just making my point!
posted by radioamy at 8:16 PM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for all the help! I ended up going with CharlieSue and Mchelly's quotes. I also liked the "space left blank" response, but knowing him that would bother him. Radioamy - I will remember yours for my daughter who loved that book!
Also to clarify the "ad" (their terminology) is put into the yearbook by about 95% of the parents. So it isn't so much a "show his friends or their parents" that I bought an ad. The school gives everyone part of a page for free but you can pay to have more space. The school also does something where each parent writes an actual private letter to their child expressing their pride and love for them and it is given to them on a special trip. Alums that I know who are adults, still keep their letters so I know that it is really important to them.
posted by maxg94 at 6:20 AM on September 30, 2011
Also to clarify the "ad" (their terminology) is put into the yearbook by about 95% of the parents. So it isn't so much a "show his friends or their parents" that I bought an ad. The school gives everyone part of a page for free but you can pay to have more space. The school also does something where each parent writes an actual private letter to their child expressing their pride and love for them and it is given to them on a special trip. Alums that I know who are adults, still keep their letters so I know that it is really important to them.
posted by maxg94 at 6:20 AM on September 30, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." - Anthony Brandt
Not necessarily related to the act of graduating, but I thought it was a great sentiment for sending me off into "the world" (as much as college is anything like the world) to remind me that it's my turn to change and learn and make mistakes, but that family was always there for me.
posted by CharlieSue at 10:33 AM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]