College is out, classes are done and it is officially summer. For most college students, this means moving home for four glorious, relaxing months. No feeling is better than finishing your last final and realizing that you have no school work to do until next semester. You can picture yourself hanging out with your high school friends, lounging by the pool and being carefree. Basically college without the crap-load of work all due on the same day. What could be better? But wait, what’s the one teeny-tiny thing I’m forgetting? Oh yeah, parents.
In college you are on your own for roughly eight months out of the year, without any supervision. If you wanted to go grab Whataburger at 3 in the morning, no one stopped you. If you wanted to spend the weekend partying, no one cared. If you didn’t feel like getting out of bed all day, no one made you get up. College is a time to learn responsibility and see how to make it on your own, but the second you step foot back in your house your parents expect you to follow their rules.
No more staying out 'til 6 in the morning and sleeping in until 7 o’clock at night. No more random outings without a destination because leaving the house calls for an interrogation of your whereabouts. I mean, have you ever tried leaving your house and gotten the “Where are you going? Who is going to be there? When will you be home?” schpiel? Yeah, try leaving your house to go hangout with friends at 2 in the morning and see how that goes. The struggle about having parents again is that they plan your days for you.
“Oh you don’t have plans today? OK, want to help me clean the house? You could put away the dishes, then you can come with me to have brunch with my friends.” No, Mom, I know you missed me but I have my own life. We don’t realize how much our parents miss us (especially if you leave them all alone). Our parents want us to hangout with them and act like we missed them too. And for the most part we missed them, but we didn’t miss the rules, restrictions, and supervision.
College life and home life are completely different. Anyone who says otherwise wasn’t parented properly. At college you do what you want, when you want, just because you feel like it. At home you mostly do what you want, but only if the parents approve and they don’t already have plans for you. Both lives are great and I wouldn’t give them up for anything, but the transition from no supervision to parents wanting to know where you are at every second, is exhausting. The best way to deal with this is to put a smile on your face and go with it. Your parents have missed bossing you around or seeing your face everyday. After everything our parents have done for us, giving up four months of complete freedom is the least we can do.
