How are you connecting with your college kids this summer?

[Anonymous]

DS (my last at home) is a rising college juinor. He has an internship this summer but it's online so I luckily got him home one more summer. I work hybrid so am home two days a week and will see him during the day on those days, and we do have dinner together a few times a week, but I feel this time with him slipping through my fingers. We have a short family vacay coming up, but other than that we don't have any 'memory building' events or activities planned. Do you do anything special when your college kids are home? Try to plan special events or activities you wouldn't otherwise? I know this concentrated time with him is growing short so want to make the most of it!

[Anonymous]

We now look to the XMas break to plan a “memory building” event since our kid has internships across the country in Summer. It’s great being able to travel in early January when prices drop like a rock.

That said…I don’t really get too concerned about trying to create some amazing experience for a 20-year old. Your experience expectations are too high and hard to meet the standards of an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS (my last at home) is a rising college juinor. He has an internship this summer but it's online so I luckily got him home one more summer. I work hybrid so am home two days a week and will see him during the day on those days, and we do have dinner together a few times a week, but I feel this time with him slipping through my fingers. We have a short family vacay coming up, but other than that we don't have any 'memory building' events or activities planned. Do you do anything special when your college kids are home? Try to plan special events or activities you wouldn't otherwise? I know this concentrated time with him is growing short so want to make the most of it!

Coffee runs together, bowling, tennis, shopping, weekend excursions or whatever he agrees to.

[Anonymous]

mine blasts his playlist and we cook together. i get to learn about his current music taste & food preferences. i try to act genuinely interested in his life vs being critical about his choices which is hard for me at times. i have to step outside of the parent role and interact with interest in this amazing young adult trying to figure it all out. pretty cool.

[Anonymous]

I do a lot with my kids when they are home during summer. They both work in office Tues/wed/thurs and home the other days. I do coffee runs with my dd and lunch or something with my DS. We are doing a family beach vacation in August. I have also helped them move from/to new apartments which we treat as an adventure too, doing some shopping and eating out. I usually do a short beach trip with my DD but this summer we have not had time due to her work schedule and the other things we’ve done this summer.

[Anonymous]

We’re doing a Saturday morning yoga class together. Get coffee afterwards.

[Anonymous]

I feel the same way , OP. We aren’t doing any trip this summer, not even a long weekend due to my DC schedule. Like a PP said, hopefully we can do a little trip in January.

Between all of us working, and DC hanging out with friends on free time, it’s hard. I enjoy the little shopping errands together and will play a bit of tennis, etc.

I like the idea of cooking together!

[Anonymous]

Mine is a rising senior who is likely going to land in a major city far from home after graduation. We’re not aiming for memory building necessarily. We’re aiming instead for a warm safe relaxing environment where DC is coddled a little bit —— a place that DC wants to come back to during vacations or long weekends every once in a while. They have college friends who Hate going home, they cannot stand their immediate family. We want to create the opposite of that. The sense of Slipping away is the feeling I’m having too, and realizing that aside from FaceTime I may only see DC twice as year after graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is a rising senior who is likely going to land in a major city far from home after graduation. We’re not aiming for memory building necessarily. We’re aiming instead for a warm safe relaxing environment where DC is coddled a little bit —— a place that DC wants to come back to during vacations or long weekends every once in a while. They have college friends who Hate going home, they cannot stand their immediate family. We want to create the opposite of that. The sense of Slipping away is the feeling I’m having too, and realizing that aside from FaceTime I may only see DC twice as year after graduation.

Oh boy do I wish this was the case in our house (warm relaxing environment). Instead I have a DH who is tense, anxious, and isn't into letting the kids relax over the summer. He wants to see them working 40 hours a week and yard work and helping him with *his* projects most of the summer.

I'm actually hoping my college senior lands a job in another location after graduation, so he isn't subjected to another summer of this.

But OP, I wouldn't worry about excursions or planned connecting. Just enjoy and it's usually more the little moments with you that they'll remember best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine is a rising senior who is likely going to land in a major city far from home after graduation. We’re not aiming for memory building necessarily. We’re aiming instead for a warm safe relaxing environment where DC is coddled a little bit —— a place that DC wants to come back to during vacations or long weekends every once in a while. They have college friends who Hate going home, they cannot stand their immediate family. We want to create the opposite of that. The sense of Slipping away is the feeling I’m having too, and realizing that aside from FaceTime I may only see DC twice as year after graduation.

This is how I think about it too. My dd has spent all of her college summers away from home but really tries to get back for a couple weeks and loves the time. She'll be here for about 12 days and we're staying close to home but hope for fun hikes, maybe a few fun dinners out, and she is my most enthusiastic theatre buddy so we have tickets to a local performance. All things she associates with being "home" and that make it nice to be here.

[Anonymous]

I coddle him so he thinks of home as a safe haven.
Other than that, he reconnected with his little sister, 5 years his junior, by embarking on Baldur’s Gate 3 together. They play after work on the couch. It’s nice to see them bond and create memories, and I don’t care that it’s through a video game.

[Anonymous]

A couple beach vacations, hitting the bookstore, Doordashing basking robbins and watching an old modern family episode after dinner some nights, and we've been going out to breakfast as a family on Sundays. The last is my favorite and my daughter likes it too.

[Anonymous]

Our kid-dults did their own thing this summer - YASS!!!

Keeping us abreast as they saw fit...