The first few days after we dropped our older daughter off at college were rough. I remember wandering around the house aimlessly and without purpose. It was uncharacteristically quiet and empty after the previous, hectic weeks leading up to move-in. I didn’t even recognize my clean dining room where all her stuff had been stacked, not to mention my husband and younger daughter, who admittedly had taken a backseat to my attention since early July. Of the previous year. The first time the ... View the Post
My Advice to My Rising Senior Who is Freaking Out About College
Over the past few weeks, the conversation in our house has been increasingly dominated by college talk: dorm room décor, roommate questions, class schedules, transportation concerns, the fear of homesickness, breakfast choices in the dining hall — if it pertains to college, we’ve covered it. Daily. The anxiety is here, and it’s real. The only thing is, my daughter is still in high school. In her defense, she’s weeks away from starting her senior year and is feeling the pressures of ... View the Post
14 Overprotective Things To Stop Doing Immediately For Your Teen
When you send your kid off to college, there’s no denying it’s excruciating to let go. And while it’s true that physically removing yourself from their body when it’s time to say goodbye is literally painful (and something that still causes me stress four years later), that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s the letting go of the hundreds of things you’ve done for them for the past 18 years that can be excruciating yet vitally important (and even exhilarating). Recently, a mom in a college ... View the Post
Ten Ways To Get Your Teen Up And Moving (With You) This Summer
When I was a kid, my summers were spent doing retro things like hanging out at the roller-skating rink, producing and starring in elaborate front porch musicals, and solving the world’s problems – or at least the middle school ones – on walks to the corner convenience store with my friends to load up on Laffy Taffy and Mr. Pibb. Did I also stare at screens for hours on end like I may or may not complain my kids do today? As much as I’d like to think otherwise, yes. Sure, my screens may have ... View the Post
Don’t Waste Your Money On These 17 Frivolous Dorm Room Purchases
About a month before my daughter left for college we spent a fun day shopping together for items for her dorm room. And by fun I mean expensive. The amount of dorm purchases she needed – or thought she needed – was staggering. When it came time to pack it all up and stuff it all into our SUV for the 300-mile trek to campus, I had regret. When our loaded SUV resembled the Joad family truck from The Grapes of Wrath, I questioned our decisions. And when we carted about a fourth of it back home ... View the Post
15 Brutally Honest Dos and Don’ts For College Dorm Roommates
It was the day I’d both dreamed about and dreaded for months: dorm room move-in day. As a local starting at Arizona State University in the fall of 1987 (I lived just 20 minutes up the road) I had opted for the random roommate option in hopes of meeting someone new, showing her the ins and outs of the University and its cute town that I’d grown up around, and being her instant new BFF, obviously. I arrived – freshly lettered from sorority rush -- loaded down with my ruffly new pink and green ... View the Post