If your parents are anything like mine, there were a few things you held true in high school: You were to always be home by ten, sleepovers were allowed only once on the weekends (if lucky) and no parties, not ever. So, what happens when suddenly you're moved into a perpetual slumber party with thousands of other college kids three hours away from home? Here are four things you can expect from your overprotective parents in college:
1. Texts. Texts. And more Texts.
With the infinite amount of text messages and phone calls coming your way, ranging from times such as 11 PM to halfway through your chemistry lecture, you most definitely need to keep your sound on. If you miss the plethora of text messages, you might become subject to a few things, increasing in severity. The first would be an inexplicable amount of text messages containing only question marks, next come the missed calls, then the missed calls on Skype, then the text messages and calls to your roommate, and if they don't respond to your parents with an exact latitude-longitude coordinate of your whereabouts within the next 5 minutes, you can surely expect a full-blown rescue mission to the door of your dorm, lead by none other than mom and dad.
2. "Surprise!"
It's Saturday morning, you wake up at an ungodly time, roll over to find your phone screen a battlefield of missed calls and text messages (reference above), one specific text sticks out to you, it states "we're here." You walk to the door of your dorm, peek your head around the corner, only to find the Honda parked on the side of the street with the hazard lights on and both parents waving and beaming inside. This has happened to me twice already.
3. "Are you dating anyone?"
This might only be applicable to children of Latin parents (such as myself), but dating was never allowed. In high school, if I so much as wanted to go to dinner with a boy my parents hadn't already thoroughly questioned and labeled as only a friend, I would have to pioneer an elaborate scheme of lies and excuses. I honestly still ponder over my romantic allowances, and cringe whenever I step into a boy's dorm - already expecting my mom to come in and give me the death stare.
4. Parties
This weekend was the first time I ever notified my parents that I was in fact attending a party. Up until this point any function I attended was a result of my elaborate scheming (reference # 3) And although I spent an hour on the phone with them reassuring that I would not participate in underage drinking, and yes I did understand that if my grades drop they will remove me from college, I did it. You can too.
Do not be fooled by my wittiness, I love my parents infinitely and also blow up their phones when they do not immediately respond to the rambling text messages about my day. Although they are undeniably overprotective and a little "extra," I am so grateful for them.
P.S. I received 3 text messages from my mom in the time span it took to write this.
