<p>Here are some tips that you might want to remember when getting ready to take your S/D to School. Be ready - your first "fight" will take place when you are backing the car out of the driveway heading to their college...</p>
<p>1 - For the next few days, your Wife is always 100% right.
2 - Pack all S/D's things in plastic bags - not "tubs" or boxes as they take up too much room in your car.
3 - Don't take ANY furniture to school - as that too fills the car. Any furniture that he/she needs you can purchased when you get to their campus area.
4 - Day of move in, take 2-3 Advil along with your Starbucks.<br>
5 - Once you get everything up to S/D's room go to the Student Union and let your Wife and child attend to their room. Check back every 60-90 minutes to show interest in what they have done.
6 - When saying good-bye to S/D, slip them an additional $50-$100. Trust me, your Wife gave them about $50 at lunch that you did not notice - and they will need the $$$.
7 - You and your Wife will cry when you leave their campus - so will your S/D. That is normal. Don't call them on your drive home. They will be fine.
8 - Once back home, give your Wife a good hug - let her cry - at this point you too will be in tears - remember, you have just done the 2nd most important thing in your life (getting your kid to College)- the 1st was 18+ years ago...</p>
<p>Have Fun with your Child - and send them a $20 every now and then...</p>
<p>And from my H- if it won’t fit in your car, it won’t fit in their dorm room. So don’t bother renting a truck to move them… since you’ll be hauling everything back to Ikea on your way home anyway.</p>
<p>Somehow kids managed to get themselves to college on Greyhound or stagecoaches back in the day. Your kid can live without a massage chair or a big screen tv or a microwave oven. My last garage sale featured all the stuff my kids took to college but never used… sets of sheets still in their wrappers, matching “throw pillows” and shams, plastic organizer things that the nice folks at Linens Etc. said my kids needed (Linens etc. went bankrupt. note to self…) plus enough small appliances to set up a concession stand in the driveway (single cup coffee makers, popcorn machines, sandwich press, toaster oven).</p>
<p>What do kids really need? A plastic garbage can that can be washed out in the shower. Extra flip-flops. Extra charger for both cell phone and laptop. Power strip. An alarm clock with a really loud alarm and a few boxes of granola bars for when they sleep through the alarm anyway. A few big beach towels (preferably your old ones so you can go out and buy new!) are more practical than the matching sets of smaller towels.</p>
<p>If it’s a neon color from a store’s “Essentials for College” section, trust me, your kid won’t use it. So unless you are re-doing your kitchen in acid green, don’t bother.</p>
<p>I am laughing and crying at this - and DS doesn’t even leave for another year yet! My hubby has yet to realize that his wife is always 100% right - let alone in situations like this.</p>
<p>This promises to be a good thread - thanks for posting! :-)</p>
<p>I second the idea of bringing tools. Better yet, buy a small tool box of basics – small hammer, pliers, wrench, 3-4 screwdrivers, duct tape, and WD-40 – that you will leave with your student. </p>
<p>I also like the idea of the Advil with the Starbucks… :)</p>
<p>Great post, this reads pretty much exactly how it went with my parents. :)</p>
<p>One last thing to mention is that once you start unpacking it’s not a race. Your kid is in an entirely new environment and you’ll have plenty of other opportunities to “make time” later on.</p>
<p>(Also seconding the small toolbox idea. My dad gave me one for Christmas ages ago and I still use it almost 10 years later. It’s also not a bad idea to get an eyeglasses repair kit, even if they don’t have glasses. Those tiny screwdrivers come in handy more often than you’d think.)</p>
<p>I wanted to put this in my OP of 8am today but I thought better of it…</p>
<p>I have two kids that go to the same school - Vanderbilt - over the years of going to Nashville, I “found” a very good neighborhood tavern right near the Campus (The Road House) that fits just like an old shoe. Last year when dropping off our S there for his 1st year, my wife suggested that I walk over to The Road House to have a beer and “chill out…” this was at 10am. I said what the heck - it is noon someplace…well I walk over there and what do I find but about 10 or 12 other Dads who had also been given their marching orders to leave the dorm - and find some place to chill out. By noon, all 10 or so of us were sitting at the same table having a great time.</p>
<p>I was thinking of taking a little something along with my Starbucks, but it’s not called Advil. Move in is tomorrow - 5 pm in central Texas…the hottest part of the day.</p>
<p>Moms - Resist the urge to make your childs bed and put away the clothes!<br>
tools - even if you don’t have to “build” anything, you may need them to break down and rebuild beds.</p>
<p>Also - I only moved my kids in once - their freshman year. After that they are on their own. My youngest moves in next Wednesday (who picks Wednesday anyway?) but I will be on vacation. She is taking the SUV down herself. Bad Mom.</p>
<p>Missypie, you might consider running out today and getting one of those little hand held mini fans with the water spray. It’ll save you tomorrow. Another thing is to freeze some wet wash cloths, put them in a big zip lock, and then in a small cooler.</p>
<p>atomom, that mess is there for a reason. After a few days (or weeks, or months…) when you are missing your child so much you just ache inside, go start cleaning up said mess. You won’t miss them quite as much after that!</p>
<p>Option #2A --only Dad goes (with tool kit). </p>
<p>Explain before you get in the car that you will leave when student indicates “thanks, it was real.” Do not go over every “life lesson” that you have ever mentioned (or thought of) on the trip to the school.</p>
<p>Upon arrival, wait to see if S/D asks for “help” arranging the room. If not, stand down.</p>
<p>When it’s time, leave. Ask the student (especially a son) to walk with you to your vehicle. One big handshake (if a son) AND long, long hug (either sex)(2 minute rule applies unless they physically struggle) and then leave. DO NOT look back at him or her as he or she walks off to begin the next chapter of their life, or ELSE!</p>
<p>Since most of what happens at that point is a little blurry, have a plan. Something that is a treat for “behaving.” Bring tissue. </p>
<p>Do not tell your spouse on the cell phone through sobs that you love your child more than you love them.</p>
<p>Someone said resist the urge to make the bed. Another idea is make the make and use both bottom sheets. That way, when your kid takes the bottom sheet off to wash, there is a clean one underneath. This might increase the chance that the sheets actually get washed once this semester, and prevents the problem of sleeping on the mattress once the sheets get removed for washing but not put back on. This is particularly good for sons.</p>
<p>And if you have a D, hope that by sophomore year she has a 2+ year BF with a pickup truck. It was a little hard to say goodbye in the driveway this last Friday. But not moving her back in the 94 degree hot Florida sun in August (into a sorority house with no elevator) was not so bad this year. And I did not miss the 6 hour drive, the 2 hours to unload and get stuff upstairs, the “I am fine now, I can take it from here, you can go’” only to get back in the car for 6 hours back.</p>