<p>Anyone have college freshmen (or older kids) coming home for the summer? How do you foresee your child's transition to being home again after having been on his or her own for nine or more months (ie. having been free to do whatever he pleased whenever he pleased)? Are you planning to enforce house rules like chores and curfew again? Any students who have weathered a summer back home care to chime in on what works to ensure a smooth summer?</p>
<p>I didn’t have very much trouble with my son when he came home. He was never a partier, so that didn’t continue at home. He was a bit lazy at first, but always worked, had to nag a bit to get certain things done, but after a month, he seemed to blend back in.
I told him, especially when he was a freshman, you have to remember to tell me things so I don’t worry, but he did admit, it was kind of odd to have to remember to check in.
There were many things he liked about home vs school which helped. He did miss his college friends and had more there, so socially he was able to concentrate more on work and sleep and catching up with other things.</p>
<p>My son is home already! Dorms closed on Friday, April 30. He has 4 months off! Anyone else find that astounding? What did I pay for?!</p>
<p>I love that D has four months off. Then again, she goes to a public college, so our expenses are lower. I guess I would be peeved if I were paying a lot of money. </p>
<p>My daughter is very lucky that she has a summer job that she loves, at the day camp she used to attend as a kid. This will be her third summer as an assistant teacher there. So she’ll have two months of leisure before the camp job starts. I envy her, but I think it’s great. She worked hard this past year at school, so I think she’s entitled to some downtime.</p>
<p>Like Debruns’ son, D is not a partier, so we don’t have to worry about her staying out late and forgetting to call. She doesn’t drive, so she doesn’t want to borrow the car. I guess I’m fortunate she failed her road test! :)</p>
<p>This will be the first year that D2 has been home since she was eight ( and she started going away to residential camp- then she worked there as a CIT, then a counselor).</p>
<p>I hope she is not traumatized ;).</p>
<p>This is also the first year in the last three that she hasn’t gone out of the country- so I am afraid that she will feel that she is too domestic for words.
I am sure she will find something to keep herself occupied though.</p>
<p>We don’t give our college-aged kids curfews when they’re home. It just seems silly to do so when they don’t have them at school. We do expect some common courtesies like letting us know if they’ll be home for dinner and such. </p>
<p>We do expect them to do some chores since they aren’t “guests” here.</p>
<p>My D arrives home this Saturday. I figure I’ll let her sleep for a few days, then she has to find a job, which might be rough in this CA economy. I’m sure a few days back home amid the craziness of younger sibs, she’ll be glad to go to work everyday. I’m a bit worried about the going out part, since we were always very strict during HS and she lived it up pretty hard away at school. When you live in our house though, you have to live by our rules. I’m dreading the confrontations that I know will inevitably occur, though.</p>
<p>I dread the summer: all my kids will be home, plus my mother. UGH! Unlike the past few years, we also won’t be working on college apps or visiting colleges. That last sentiment may seem like a reprieve, but it at least gave us some focus (and me the upper hand). What I worry about is the lack of jobs, the horrible late night-into-morning hours, the kitchen mess in the morning. (They like to cook, but somehow can’t seem to clean. I’ve tried to teach them how to clean up, but they don’t see it!) They don’t party or drink; they just eat at all hours.</p>
<p>Yes, the being without a job part is bad, because having a job imposes a great measure of discipline. The kids can’t really keep “vampire hours” if they need to get up at 6:30 a.m.</p>
<p>I’ve been home part of the summer every summer (graduating from college this year).</p>
<p>Freshman year: took a class at my college for the first half-ish of summer and then went home, did some shadowing and saw friends</p>
<p>Sophomore year: took a class at a college in my home city for the first half-ish of the summer and then did a paid internship in another city for two months</p>
<p>Junior year: Alternating between working on a research project with a professor at HomeCity U and volunteering in my home city and working as a research assistant for pay at college.</p>
<p>Senior year (this summer): working as a research assistant (paid) at my university until the end of July, spending maybe a week at home, and then driving down with my parents to see my brother and his girlfriend and some other friends who live in BigCity near GradSchoolTown, and then driving to GradSchoolTown</p>
<p>All of all, it’s been a nice mix of being home and not.</p>
<p>limabeans…You sound like me. I was happy when my kids discovered the dishwasher just a couple weeks before they went back to school. It took them all summer to realize I was really annoyed about the mess in the kitchen every morning. This will be an interesting summer for us. My two middle kids will remain at school and my oldest son is graduating very shortly and will be living back at home with my youngest daughter. I too will be caring for a parent and I am imagining life will drastically change for hubby and myself. </p>
<p>Momdoc…When they first get home it takes a while for them to settle in. They seem like they are on a mission to run themselves into the ground. They sleep and eat at wierd times and drop their stuff where they please. It can be utterly disturbing but they do settle down within a few weeks. Then you start to get a glimpse of the kid you sent off to college. They can be alot of fun to have home especially if your house is the place that their friends come to. On any given night I had two to ten kids here. They eat alot and use the toilet alot.(I only say that because you will find yourself cleaning it daily. LOL) Fill your refrigerator and keep it like that all summer. I would also suggest having a good outdoor space so they could entertain friends without keeping you up till crazy hours. I am going to miss my two middle kids this summer…I wish they were coming home.</p>
<p>We continue with the rule we started the summer after senior year of high school (when social life picked up a bit). If they’re not coming home, they text me. I know they’re somewhere safe and don’t get woken up by a phone call. O/w it’s pretty much the same as always–they do their own laundry, don’t clean up after themselves quite as much as I’d like, but do help out when asked. Their hours can get very weird if they don’t have an early morning job to get to.</p>
<p>Mostly I’d give them a while to sleep/get settled in. This last year has rocked their world in many ways.</p>
<p>(And DH thinks with all the $$ we’re paying they ought to keep DS another couple weeks. Me–I’m happy to be picking him up this weekend.) (Ecstatic, actually.)</p>
<p>Neither kid is coming home this summer. It feels odd but not at all bad. They both have jobs this summer and dd#2 has to return to school early to start as an RA. DH and I will have fun visiting them and enjoying our first summer of “freedom” lol.</p>