Here are a few crumbs of college knowledge for the first weekend in October.
- As the leaves begin to turn and the nights get decidedly cooler, we are moving into the height of parent/family weekend season at colleges across the US. If you’re visiting your first-year student on campus for the first time since the start of the year, my advice is to be cautious not to over-plan or be too rigid in your approach to the weekend’s activities. For sure, you should go ahead and make a dinner reservation if you are set on going to a particular restaurant or worried about the crowds on a busy weekend. But be prepared to take your cues from your student on how to spend most of your time with them. He may want you to join up with a number of his friends (and their families) for meals, the soccer game, or an a cappella concert. None of those things may be what you had in mind. But even if it’s not your thing, try to go along. Your student is trying to invite you into her life at college so you should suck it up and do what she wants. Conversely, you may want to bust out your new “College” hoodie and head to the football game, but your student suggests a walk in the campus arboretum or getting lunch off campus. There will be plenty of football games. If your student wants to spend alone time with you, make sure you pay attention and make it happen. You’ll find that there are lots of ways to enjoy parent/family weekend and what really matters is the time with your student.