Having your college student home for Winter Break
January 6, 2012 (WPVI) -- There's a new dynamic at the Buckman House right now, as my oldest son, Jason, is home for his first college Winter Break. Since we dropped him off in Pittsburgh for football camp in mid-August, he's been on his own and we've gotten used to having one fewer Buckman Boy in the house. Now, it's back to old times... Sort of. Not really.
For four months, Jason hasn't had anyone telling him when to come home at night, when to clean up his room, when to get his work done, etc. And for four months, since I haven't known exactly where Jason was at every minute of the day - and especially at night, I haven't been all that worried. It helps knowing that he doesn't have a car out at school, so I'm not worried about accidents or bad driving decisions. We usually text or Facebook chat at least once a day, so I know he's basically OK.
But now, he's back under our roof, and driving our car. And I'm back to worrying. I still want him home by midnight. I want to know where he's going and with whom. He may be a 19-year-old college student, but he's still my son and, somehow, I feel more responsible for his behavior when he's under my roof, than when he's 300 miles away. And as you can imagine, the adjustment for all of us has been a bit dicey.
