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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So we totally messed up the experience for our freshman.

We have 3 kids who headed off to college on the same day:  a senior, a junior and a freshman.  The senior and freshman attend the same school.  Additionally we have 2 kids at home as well as Dad, my husband's father, who has Alzheimer's.

I was in charge of the getting the senior and freshman up to school and my husband was handling the junior.  We left the high school student, elementary student, Dad and a caregiver at home.  But in our haste and the flurry of getting everyone out of the house, we didn't keep the household as structured as we should have for Dad and he became extremely anxious.  Even my parents coming over and taking the kids with them to their house didn't help.

So I ended up doing load-in day for the freshman all day (the senior was pretty much set) and then driving home all night.  My husband left the junior after getting him set up and we literally passed like ships in the night on the highway as he headed from the junior to the freshman so that the frosh could have someone with him for the Parent/Kid activities at his school.

I was so stressed when I got home on Saturday at 3 or 4 am that I couldn't sleep so when Dad woke up early we started baking (he finds it soothing interestingly enough).  I think we baked enough cookies to feed a couple of armies.  We shipped off a bunch of the cookies, froze a bunch and took some to the shelter where we sometimes volunteer.

Long story short, it was not an ideal situation but our freshman took the punches like a champ and seems to be settling in nicely despite the rough start.  It is a shame because the older two got all the bells and whistles- nice, relaxing move-in, dinners out at fine restaurants, brunch, the whole shebang.  But it is what it is and my husband and I learned a big lesson about keeping things calm for Dad.  Fortunately the freshman is a happy kid and isn't holding a grudge or bemoaning the rocky start.

Other than that, class selection went well and the suitemates aren't too weird, and one suitemate actually seems pretty normal.  We'll see how it goes!  He had 3 days of classes this week and seems happy![/quote]

I just wanted to comment to not beat yourself up!  You sound like a great parent and daughter-in-law and I think no matter what happens, your kids have been watching your actions over the years and how much you do for your family.  They'll be fine![/quote]

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