Thayer_Learning_Center

Dear Thayer Learning Center,I had a family visit last weekend. I am a strong and determined person, but it was difficult to deal with a husband who wanted to take our son home. Of course the cadet wants to come home and my heart would like to see that.I had read your letter in the booklet about dealing with the situation at this point. I’m not sure that my husband read it and wonder about other parents. name told us that there were a number of cadets who never came back after their first visit. I believe that we are not doing are best for our children by pulling them out before they complete the program.I was wondering if some personal information might help other parents to deal with the situation. If you think that it might help, I would be willing to have you send a copy of my letter to parents who are preparing to experience a visit with their child. Your letter in the booklet helped me, but do most people read the booklet? Would a single letter sent right before each visit refresh the information you communicated. Would some personal example lend assistance how to get through the experience or start the parents thinking of how to handle the emotions and objections?Let me know what you think. I can revise the letter to be anonymous or take the names out. I don’t have an issue with sharing.-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center,I would like to personally thank all of you for everything you’ve done for my son. Though I didn’t expect Thayer Learning Center (TLC) to raise him, you did allow us a chance to cool off, start over, and do things better. I’ve learned at least as much as our son, if not more, and I’m bringing up my younger son a whole different way than I did with our son. Now, my younger son and I are very close and respectful of each other.During our son’s stay at Thayer Learning Center (TLC), he learned several important life skills. He learned to think for himself, to respect thoughts and things of others. He developed strong self esteem and determination to achieve goals. He learned how to tackle obstacles head on better, rather than spending that effort on getting around them. He takes religion more seriously now. He learned you have to earn what you get. Nothing is free. He learned to communicate better both in listening and speaking. He now knows how much our family loves him, and what extremes we will go though to do the right thing for him.I have learned to stand my ground on firm rules of the household. To trust my kids to make the right choices, and not do it for them. I’ve learned that often the less I say, the better. Let them figure things out for themselves, instead of solving all their problems for them. I’ve learned to insist they be a part in the day to day operations of the household, instead of doing it all my self.While he admits admits he didn’t like his stay at Thayer Learning Center (TLC), he also says that it was a good thing, and that it wasn’t supposed to be liked. And he admits that he is not a bad person, just that he made some bad choices. Those are a man’s words, not the words of a boy.I have attended all of the parents meetings, and gained an abundance of good information from each. I also see the time, personnel, and dedication it takes to work with these great kids on a daily basis. You have to love what you do.I have and will continue to recommend Thayer Learning Center (TLC) to any parent with a teen, actually, whether troubled or not, because I believe it will make them a stronger and more self-confident person prepared for the real world. And most importantly, to make them know they have they have a choice in every matter. They must weigh out all options before making those choices and are responsible for their decisions.

-Thayer Learning Center Parent

Dear Thayer Learning Center Staff,We can’t believe how time flies so fast. It’s already Christmas time. This year’s Christmas is special because we have everyone home safe and they are working hard to achieve their goals.Since name came home, she has pursued her goals, which is to become a psychologist. She has been on the honor roll at school and she has finished her EMT course qualifying her to become an EMT in March, when she turns 18. The reason she wants to become a psychologist is to help young kids and teenagers. We are certain that you and your staff have been an inspiration to her. In fact, she has recently been accepted at State University!She finally got a job and is working part time as a hostess at a fine Italian restaurant and she continues to baby sit from time to time keeping herself busy and occupied in positive things.We do not know how to express our gratitude to you and the staff at Thayer Learning Center (TLC)! We encourage you to continue the good hard work and we will continue to keep you and your staff in our prayers.Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center Staff,We would like to thank you for the care, concern and guidance you gave our son during his stay at the Thayer Learning Center.We both well understand that when we sent him to Thayer Learning Center (TLC) we were at our wits ends. What he needed, and what TLC provided, was simply beyond our capacity to supply. For that we are ever so grateful to the Thayer Learning Center (TLC) staff.However, what makes Thayer Learning Center (TLC) are the people; people like you who are prepared to work with troubled teens, understand their problems, have patience with the good in them while not tolerating what is not, and giving them the tools they need to become productive members of our society. You did for our son exactly what needed to be done.Our son calls us daily from where he lives. He is working two jobs and saving his money. He wants to show us that he can make it on his own and come home for Christmas with his flag flying. Nothing could make us more happy. We understand that none of this would be possible without the valuable lessons he learned under your guidance at Thayer Learning Center (TLC).Should you wish to use us as a reference for other parents considering sending their child to Thayer Learning Center (TLC), please do so.-Thayer Learning Center ParentThayer Learning Center Staff,Thank you so much for your cooperation in the setting up this home visit. We are all so excited to bring our son home for a few days. Thanks you for all you have done for him. We know we truly made the right decision to send him to Thayer Learning Center (TLC). You have worked wonders with him and we are so proud of his progress so far. We look forward to the day when we can pick him up at graduation from Thayer Learning Center (TLC) with his high school diploma in hand.Thanks again for giving our son back! We will never forget what all of you have done for our family.-Thayer Learning Center ParentThayer Learning Center Staff,I cannot express to you our gratitude for the way that you took care of our son. He has gone back to the boy we knew as a child only now he is becoming a man. We know of your helping him through our personal religious book, you must have been inspired to see his potential. He has now finished it for the second time. The missionaries told him he is well prepared and has a great testimony. Thank you. He has had one missionary discussion, and at that discussion he agreed that he was ready for baptism. He called his Grandpa that night to ask him to baptize him at the end of January. He was meeting with them again tonight. Thank you so much for your guidance and love that you showed him his mother and I feel that she was inspired to send him to Thayer Learning Center (TLC).He is waiting until the end of January so that everyone in the family can have time to plan a trip to Washington. It should be a glorious night, a night I have prayed for, actually for about 15 years of his life, I have prayed and had his name on the Temple Prayer roll. It shows you should never give up. He is making great strides with his mother also. His father is married to a very close minded person, so who knows how long that will take.We have not seen him yet, but heat he looks healthy and great. Our best friends have given him a full time job and he is working hard and they are praising him for his work ethic. He will be here this weekend for New Years, and we can hardly wait to see him. His mother bought him all new dress clothes for church, and he has told his cousins that if they want to and see him, they can come to church with us. He said that I get to be the first one he goes to church with. I feel honored. He then plans on attending every Sunday in his home ward.Please know that what you did is so greatly appreciated, and we love you for your dedication.-Thayer Learning Center ParentHey Thayer Learning Center (TLC),It has been over a month since our son officially graduated from the Thayer Learning Center. It was a few busy days when we were there for the seminar and ceremony. Then all the sudden it was over and we were gone. I wanted to once again thank you for all you did to help us though this process with our son. We tried to come up with a suitable gift as a token of our appreciation to give you when we were there. I know that Thayer Learning Center (TLC) frowns upon that, and we still have not come up with something tangible that would come close to representing how much we appreciate all your staff have done in helping us get our family back together! I am quite sure we appreciated your support more than our son did. Your encouragement and affirmations (and even some of your concerns) helped me become more confident that we were ready to have our son home again and be more effective parents. I know that his and our lives have been forever changed for the better, and someday he will appreciate more what you did for him too.He is doing well in school now. Struggling a bit with English class, but his grades are coming up steadily and so far we have good communication with his teachers. He will take the ACT later this month. He is now using his school planner which he would never do before- this has replaced our computer schedule and we are all happier for it. A lot of the scheduled school events are automatically on the schedule already, so that helps us with some of the prior planning issues we’ve had. His priorities still change easily for social activities based on who will be involved. We struggle to get him to bring his friends here. An interesting “twist” with one of his friends that we’ve previously had concerns about: he’s become quite a positive role model and leader despite a poor family situation. Even his mother has improved her standards, which helps quite a bit. This friend of his actually wants me to be a mentor for a senior project related to his career interests.Our son has 2 jobs now, Pizza Hut still and a Chinese restaurant as a host. Still not enough hours, but a little more consistent. He is arguing less about pursuing “overnighters” at his friends house which used to be almost a nightly discussion.He is learning that “No” means No and we have learned to say it better. He did have a slip up last week- got a MIP for having alcohol in his system (one beer)-spent a few hours in jail till it was out of his system and then returned home. It cost him $12, but no more legal trouble apparently. He seems to consider it a big wake-up call and warning that drinking when you’re 17 isn’t a very good idea. He also recently andvoluntarily let me get rid of a large stack of music CD’s with filthy lyrics which he had sorted on his own to not listen to anymore.He’s been resisting most spiritual reading and youth groups and my husband and I have disagreed somewhat on whether they should be mandatory or not. But we are praying that the Lord will help change our son’s heart, and that positive influences from his Christian friends will affect him.You are a wonderful person and I thank God and ask his blessing on you and your family as you continue to help others! Thanks again for everything.-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center (TLC) Staff,Our long visit with our son was very special to us and we wanted to just thank you for everything. He has made undeniable progress and we are thankful for your efforts in helping him to make positive changes in his attitude and beliefs about life.The graduation ceremony left us in tears as we listened to the student’s stories that were truly from the heart. They have learned to appreciate themselves, to cherish life, and to dream once again for a wonderful future. They have truly come to understand responsibility and respect, not just for others, but for themselves as well.Your ability to work with children is very extraordinary. It was our pleasure to meet everyone and to confirm what we knew in our hearts, that we made the right decision to find our son help and that he has been in good hands while at the Thayer Learning Center (TLC).We appreciate your commitment to helping these children seek better lives for themselves and wish you all success and good health.Best wishes.-Thayer Learning Center ParentThayer Learning Center (TLC),I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing you regarding my son. First and most importantly, I want to let you know how truly happy and exited I am about the changes I am seeing in my son. I see for the first time in his life, confidence and pride. These are two characteristics that he has never seemed to be able to show until now. It has always been my hope to have him look in the mirror and say “I like who I am and I’m proud of who I am”. He is there thanks you. I talked to him on Monday and he was beaming with pride when he told me that he had made Senior Resident.I received his five year goal plan and his moral code of ethics when I was there for the seminar. I was amazed! Not only at what he had written, but the thought process that obviously went into it. With years of doctors and various medication that everyone said he “needed”, we were never able to get him to focus, think things out, and make positive choices. He was always one to act, then think. The fact that you have gotten him to do these things and without medication are unbelievable and amazing. I can never thank the Thayer Learning Center (TLC) staff enough.The other reason I am writing you is painful. After reviewing my finances and using all of my resources I am to the point where I can only afford to pay his tuition through the end of the year. Quite frankly, I don’t know what to do. My son should be so close to graduating your program by that time and I just don’t know what else I can do. I think it is crucial for him to walk across that stage at graduation and say “Yes! I have completed something wonderful for the first time in my life”. I believe that if I am forced to take him out before he gets to that final step, it could be detrimental to his hard work and progress. He is finally to the point where I feel he loves your school. I know he misses me, the family and home, but he knows what he is doing is special and something to be proud of.I am not asking for charity. I understand why the cost is what it is and it has been worth every dollar spent! I was hoping that you could possibly give me some ideas on any type of grant or scholarships that may be available to help someone in his position, someone so close and doing so well. I took advantage of a 20K student loan and that has long since been depleted. I asked for an additional loan but was denied. We do okay financially, but we have three other children as well. One of whom is starting college in the fall.I haven’t mention any of this to my son and for progress sake, I don’t plan to. He is doing wonderful and I would never want to jeopardize that.Once again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. You and your staff are wonderful!-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center,We are writing this letter to give Thayer Learning Center (TLC) one month notice prior to our son’s last day at your school. Our decision of pulling him out before his graduation of the program has been out intention the entire year. We sent him to your school knowing that if he would not graduate the program, we would pull him out so he could start the year over fresh in 9th grade. We have seen definite, significant improvements in our son’s overall attitude towards authority, education, and life in general. We want to take this time to thank you for everything you have done the past year to help our son. We would not hesitate to recommend the Thayer Learning Center (TLC) to other families with troubled teens and will send our son back with out hesitation if he fails to live up to expectations.-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center (TLC),I just want to let you know that our daughter is doing very well. Her whole attitude has changed. She is going to college and has a great job at a medical service company. She is living at home and has no desire at this point to move out. Her and I couldn’t have a better relationship at this time. She has not even attempted to contact her old friends. She has made a lot of new friends that have no desire to experiment with drugs. I want to thank everyone for all your help with making her become the woman she is today.With out you, I’m afraid I would have lost her. She has also told me that if she had a child that did the things which she was doing, she would not hesitate to send her child to your school. So you have to know that your program really works.I have also given out your brochure to 3 other people who have been having problems with their teens. I hope you get some new students out of it. Thanks again!-Thayer Learning Center ParentDear Thayer Learning Center (TLC) Staff,Just a note of thanks for a great weekend. All of the staff was very polite, professional, and accommodating. I learned many new tools from the seminar. My youngest son is already “zoning” our house for cleaning duties. I had always done it my self, but I realize he can help too, and have fun with it. I liked the part about getting them up if needed in the middle of the night to finish a duty that had not been completed before bedtime. I’m up in the middle of the night often, and we can do this instead of watching the news. I will be working hard to “phase” in other methods we discussed as well.I was impressed with my son, how he carried himself and spoke. The constant smiling and direct eye contact is something I’m not used to seeing in him. Most of the other cadets were impressive as well.I’m eager for my son to learn the lessons of time management, financial management and goal setting parts of Residency. And to learn to push himself in school because he wants to, not because he has to.When I asked him during the graduation if he thought the program was helping, he admitted it was. He said he was afraid at first though. When I asked who he thought was missing out on becoming a true man, him or his friends, he said definitely his friends.Most importantly, while at Thayer Learning Center (TLC), I notice how much the staff really love and care for the kids.Thanks for the seminar, tour, and graduation ceremony this weekend, which made one of the happiest days of my life.-Thayer Learning Center Parent

Trackback URI | Comments RSS