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Monday, December 9, 2013

7 Great Tips for Your College Kid


Tips for Parents for the College Offspring’s
Long Weekend Home

Am I the only parent startled to realize she was cleaning up for the kid’s visit, after so many years of cajoling her kids to clean up for guests?

Thanksgiving was my daughter’s first time home from college. We had a great time, all the travel plans went like clockwork, and I had no major food mishaps. In fact, I didn’t goof anything up royally, so I don’t have a great story for my monthly blog. But I do have some tips...
...based on my experiences as well as those of my friends and Amanda’s friends.

• If you are making the kid’s travel arrangements, leave plenty of time between his last class and his flight, and notice what time the campus shuttle, if there is one, begins and finishes making runs to the airport.
• Move your stuff back out of his room.
• Share her. With the friends, with the other members of the family. She wants time with all of them.
• Skip the surprises. Ask her what she wants to do and what she wants to eat. The stir-fry restaurant that was her favorite may not be her top choice now, especially if stir-fry is the one dependably good option at school. And she may be pizza-ed out.
• Skip the surprises, part two. Don’t try to orchestrate parties/activities with the old friends. Things may have changed.
• Recognize that this kid has been charting his own course for months. Your house rules may or may not need to change, but at the very least, everyone needs clear expectations. 
• Don’t blink. Because the longer you look forward to something, the faster it’s over.

— Elaine Jack, Assistant Editor

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, Elaine! I'm less than a year away from being in need of this great advice!

    ReplyDelete

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