Moving to College – Don’t Forget About Your Family!

When you’re moving to the area of your college, whether you’re living on campus or off, it can be easy to get caught up in the day to day nature of it. You go to classes, possibly a part time job, come back to your college dorm room, work on your homework, have some free time, and go to bed. With how busy your schedule is, it can be all too easy to get to the end of the week and realize that you haven’t been in contact with your family in a week…or more. Obviously, your family won’t be too happy about this – they want to know how you’re doing in college and miss you. So as you go through college, you need to remember to stay in contact with them…you may need to pencil it in on your busy schedule.

First of all, make visits home occasionally. While talking with you on the phone is great, seeing you is even better and if you’re able to, then visit occasionally. Obviously, if your college is an hour or two away this is easier. If your college is not that close, then you want to make sure you at least come home for major holidays.

Don’t just text your family – sure texting is great, but they will want to verbally talk with you and hear your voice. Make it a point to call them once a week. Most importantly as you talk with your family, you want to make sure you aren’t just talking about yourself. Ask them how they’re doing. Let them tell you stories from home. It isn’t all about you and your stories, so you also need to make sure you don’t just use your family to vent. This can be a little hard as they’re going to ask you how you’re doing and will want some stories and will want to hear all about your classes. It can be easy to get carried away and you may find yourself venting to your family. While this is okay occasionally, your family won’t want to hear you stress out and vent every time they talk to you – remember to keep a balance.

If you miss someone’s birthday, don’t just text them. Write it on your planner in bright, bold ink if you have to. Make sure you send a card and maybe a little gift, especially if it’s your parents or grandparents.