<p>I won’t repeat what others have said about normal meltdowns for incoming freshmen. A year ago we were concerned about our son entering college 1,800 miles away – East Coast to Colorado. It was tough. We flew out with him and his stuff, helped move him in, get settled. We attended a two-day parents orientation, said good-bye and returned home. With emails, texts we communicated a lot. We went back out for Family Weekend at the end of October and he visibly had “matured,” talked more. The main thought I’d share is that your child gets on campus and gets involved. If there’s freshmen orientation become a part of it. All of the kids are in the same boat. Going “far away” is relative. Flying to Colorado for us is 3-1/2-4 hours away. That’s really not that bad. He was acceptd at a college in Virginia that was a 6-1/2-7 hour drive from home. He said he’d rather fly to Colorado than drive to Virginia.</p>
<p>I would suggest not saying too much, but just listening to her. There’s a good chance that in a few days her attitude will change. And then there may be a couple more meltdowns. I agree that it’s pretty normal.</p>
<p>“You are only as far away as a phone call, e-mail, skype, face time.” It’s actually the same distance as any place in the states no matter where you go. You can drive 3 hours home or fly to another state in the same amount of time. </p>
<p>*You can drive 3 hours home or fly to another state in the same amount of time.
*
Unless weather in between reroutes/ cancels flights of course.</p>
<p>S is going away 9 hours. He never wanted to go to camp or spend too much time away from home so we are a little worried. What helps…we have already said you will be home every 6 weeks. (Fall break, t-day, etc.) dad is coming parents weekend: and mom will come the end of March. It helps to have things to look forward to.
We have Also promised him that we would not travel over t-day. </p>
<p>It also helps to talk about the friends that are also going far away, if he had to think about everybody but him going to the state school or hanging out like old times. The worst is two of his closest friends will live together at the state flagship (which was his choice #2 but way too big) he knows every detail good and bad of their orientations and their suite set up. He talks about visiting them at least twice before he has to leave. </p>
<p>Would it help her to start a thread on CC to talk to other students having the same feelings? I’m sure she would find a lot of kids expressing the same feelings and she could make pen pals. I feel for your daughter. My oldest went only two hrs away and cried over the phone the first few nights, cried other times, and came home many weekends. But as the yr progressed she came home much less frequently.Though she loved her school from day 1, she was still very homesick. It is such a major transition, I think parents and students skim over how stressful it can be. </p>