Ever since my daughter was little, I always wanted her to see the best that America has to offer. That's why we traveled a lot. As a baby boomer mom and journalist who's been there and done that, I figured if she is going to be one of the future leaders of our great nation, it would be in her best interest to learn more than what she reads in a text book.

Even now that she's in college I tell her not keep herself couped up in her dorm room--get out and explore the new town she's living in. It's not only an adventure, but you never know when you just might have an emergency that will call for you to respond and react in a hurry.

Case in point: A few weeks back when my college daughter called me, it was obvious she wasn't feeling well. Her voice was raspy and she was extremely congested. She went on to tell me she felt so bad one night, she couldn't even sleep. I told her she probably needed to see someone--like a doctor. She told me she didn't trust going to the campus clinic. I then suggested she go to the local hospital's ER--to which she replied, "I don't know where it is." Then she went on to explain how she called several of her NC A&T Aggie friends during the wee hours of the morning to see if they knew where the local ER was and none of them knew either.

I could see it if she had an excuse--like NO CAR---but she has a vehicle and certainly drives it to get to the Mall, to get her nails and eyebrows done, so why is it she doesn't know where the hospital is.

So I had to think...where did I fail as a baby boomer parent that would cause my daughter to lie in bed and suffer as opposed to taking initiative and finding it on her own.

Of course, she continues to prove she is my daughter and would have the last word in this story: "If you had just bought me a GPS Navigator, I wouldn't have had this problem."

My thought: Choose better friends who know WHERE they're going in life! Or maybe she should've gone to Ohio University!