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[quote=Anonymous]I'm an only with an only.

I wasn't psyched about the concept of having a college roommate but I didn't dread it either. Aside from sleepovers, I hadn't attended any sleep away camps and I totally got the concept and wasn't freaked out by it. It's just...how it works.

Your kid probably thinks about it a lot less than you do. In the end I ended up rooming with someone I'd known from middle school who I found out was attending the same college; it was great because we weren't "friends" but we knew the other wasn't crazy, so there was some assurance it wouldn't be a mess. I'd recommend that route for anyone, not just onlies, if it's an option.

My kid is only 13 but going to a college-based summer camp this summer. Part of the reason is that we want them to experience this sort of thing. We have shared a bathroom with them for several years (old house) so they get their fair share of communal living for sure. We also talk about how to be a good roommate (to US, or to each other) in our house, which I'm sure a lot of parents of onlies do...it's just parenting in a different context than parents of multiple kids are used to.

Ask your kid how they feel, advise appropriately (filling out the roommate questionnaire is important, etc..., encourage them to reach out so both roommates don't bring a fridge and no one brings a vacuum, etc...) and model enthusiasm not anxiety. This is basic little kid stuff, but it applies to young adulthood also.

In the end it's far more important a kid knows how to do laundry, make decent food choices, clean up a room, engage in minor conflict resolution, and find campus resources than that they have experience being a roommate. [/quote]

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