College kids reverting to helpless teens at home
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Anonymous
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My college kid dragged himself home coughing, exhausted, and too skinny after finals. I have been plying him with cold medicine and tea and tucking him into the couch with blankets. Does he NEED all that? No. He was surviving on cup o noodles and cough syrup at school, but it makes my mom heart glad to take care of him better than that.
And yes, I will give him money when he gets better and goes out with friends this month. He doesn’t have a job at school (he’s an athlete and doesn’t have time) so that’s part of the deal. However, he will be a courteous housemate, will let me know when he plans to be home and if he’ll miss dinner, he won’t leave messes, and he will give me at least one heartfelt “thank you, mom” and a big hug every day. |
Anonymous
Thank you for sharing this. Very funny. |
Anonymous
| PP- Great but that’s not what posters are talking about. |
Anonymous
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DS 20 home for winter break, and told me just this yesterday.
While away, he cooks for himself quite regularly, and pretty healthy meals, too. But when he's home, he said he wants to be lazy. And that's because there's someone at home to cook for him, and also, I think he's burnt out from all that cooking. I mean, we know how that feels since we've doing it for 30+ years. But he also said that he prefers living on his own. 
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Anonymous
| DD home and is being delightful! Cooked dinner, went to store, lets us know when she will be out and home. |
Anonymous
Are you bragging? Simply celebrating? Subtly telling people that your kid is better than theirs, or that you are a better parent? People fascinate me. |
Anonymous
I still do this at 53. 
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Anonymous
Yup. And and my parents are 80+.
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Anonymous
| I have younger elementary kids, but I definitely hope to pamper them when they are back home from college. Why not?! I think it’s sweet. |
Anonymous
Probably not, but I think something similar is happening even when kids aren’t sick - they are exhausted at the end of finals and they come home and finally allow themselves to implode into their childhood selves for a bit. As long as it’s temporary and everyone enjoys reprising their previous roles it’s kind of sweet. I must say I was perfectly happy to wave my kid off as he headed back to school after Thanksgiving and I expect I will be when he goes back in January. We’ve all grown up and, and his place is now at school. |
Anonymous
+1 This is very much how I felt when I was home for college breaks, and I expect to do the same with my DC next year. To be clear, summer breaks were quite different. After a week or so of recovering from exam exhaustion, things went back to normal. But I was an exhausted mess for the first week of winter break. Often sick, too. The end of semester push was depleting! Last thought: home was where I could let my hair down and not have to “keep it together” all the time. Does not excuse rudeness or anything like that. But reverting to helplessness the first week or two of winter break? Yes. Acts of love (taking care of things I could usually do myself) = nurturing for me. By the way, my parents were the same during my first year of BigLaw (!!!) Yes, I was a full grown adult by then. AND I was often exhausted and depleted when they saw me. A little TLC went a long way. I do the same now for my teens when I sense they’re burned out and exhausted. |
Anonymous
| They are soaking up "mommy time". |
Anonymous
| I get things on trays. Breakfast on a tray. Teas on a tray. Snacks on a tray. This never happened until I went to college. I will probably be doing this to my children. |
Anonymous
| They are back home ballers. |
Anonymous
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Yes, I love to baby my kids when they come home. Adulting is hard. I remember being the same way when I came home. |