Category: Tips for parents

The Transfer Window: Living in Interesting Times

You know the oft-repeated Chinese curse that goes, “May you live in interesting times?” Well, the first year of college is interesting times for just about every student – and their families.

Many, if not most, new students and their families reasonably assume that the hardest part – the most interesting of times – is going to hit sometime in September or October. Or maybe during the fall exam period when students get their first real taste of academic stress on a large scale. It stands to reason that new students would struggle most at the moment the big changes are hitting for the first time, right? Continue reading “The Transfer Window: Living in Interesting Times”

Home for the Holidays

In our house the countdown starts on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The day our kids go back to college/school after Turkey Day is when we start thinking about having them home for the extended holiday break. We circle their respective dates of return on the calendar and allow our spirits to be lifted by the promise of three weeks of family dinners, game nights by the fire, trips to the movies, and when the weather cooperates maybe even a day or two on the ski slopes at nearby Sugarloaf. Continue reading “Home for the Holidays”

Phoning Home: Reflections on Sunday Night Calls from College

When our boys are away at school we are practitioners of the Sunday night phone call ritual. In the age of cell phones, I’m not entirely sure how or why this age-old tradition has taken hold for us, but it has.

Most weeks John, our college senior, calls somewhere between 7 and 9 p.m. He updates us on the week that was. His mother passes along the news from extended family, fishes for random bits of information about his social life, and covers the transactional business (e.g. banking, online shopping, doctors’ appointments that need scheduling, etc.). I ask about the weekend, we talk sports (usually the Red Sox as well as some other seasonal happening – how his fantasy football team fared, March Madness, etc.), and make travel arrangements for when he comes home on breaks. Continue reading “Phoning Home: Reflections on Sunday Night Calls from College”

Survive and Thrive: Navigating the End-of-Semester Crunch

December is officially here. Snow is falling in central Maine. It will be dark by 4:15 – just one of the many benefits of living within spitting distance of the arctic circle. The last of the Thanksgiving leftovers are either gone or inedible. And the fall academic term is drawing to a close at colleges across the United States.

With end-of-term assignments coming due and exams fast approaching, campus coffee consumption and late night pizza sales are on the rise, sleep and laser printer cartridges are in short supply, and literally millions of students are taking part in the centuries old tradition of putting off their school work by cleaning their dorm rooms for the first time since parents’ weekend. Continue reading “Survive and Thrive: Navigating the End-of-Semester Crunch”