Communication dos and donts between parents and their freshman student

<p>I am a new UCLA parent. We just dropped our son off last weekend. I am interested in your opinion on how much communication is too much, too little or just the right amount. I appreciate any feedback. Thanks!</p>

<p>As a student, I think it’s fine to check in with them every day or every couple days. A lot of people I know call their parents every day even just for a minute or two. I personally try to text my mom when I remember but I’m pretty bad at that so it ends up being a couple days span sometimes. Ideally I’d like to check in with her everyday, I owe my parents at least that and I’m sure your son/daughter would feel the same way.</p>

<p>Sons tend to communicate with parents less often than daughters. A minimum of once per week has worked well with my son and me. I have found that if he calls me, he has lots to say. But if I call him his replies tend to be monosyllabic. My husband and I have different conversational styles over the phone; I ask lots of questions about academic progress whereas he spends a lot of time talking about fishing trips and football games, so we usually call him separately instead of both getting on the line at the same time. </p>

<p>Wait awhile for your son to contact you, and then ask him what type of parental communication works best with his schedule. And when you do call him, always try to give some interesting or amusing news from home. He will appreciate that.</p>

<p>Thank you neekzg and UCLA Band mom for your helpful feedbacks This transition period for us has been a bit confusing. We are trying to give him the space he needs but at the same time needing to know how he is coping with his new environment. We always had frequent and open communication with our son when he was living at home, but now it almost seems like he wants to keep to himself…so confusing��. We will tread on the side of less communication though until he’s ready to be more engaging. Thanks again!</p>