Posted by: Elizabeth King on June 5, 2007 2:19PM EST I am not able to directly relate to this because I am only a junior. However, my brother just graduated this year and I feel like they give him so much more freedom than they give me. Even though I am two years younger it is still frusturating. I know what you mean when you say your parents call every other second. If you saw my call log it would be identical. Just lately my mom and dad have started become worried and always have to know what I am doing. I think it is because I got my license three months ago and now its summer. So hopefully they will also find the happy medium.

Posted by: Brooklyn Mundy on May 23, 2007 12:06PM EST Mine is pretty much the complete opposite, though it seems that lately I've been hanging out with my dad more than my friends lately, but that's neither here nor there. Talk about parents being stalkers, my dad joined the facebook. I definitely had to parent proof my profile.

Posted by: Lily on May 18, 2007 10:48AM EST Beth-I am 44 years old, married with children, have lived abroad with my own family for 9 years and when I go home to visit my parents my mom still worries about me!! It won't end anytime soon either, I suspect! If I am a little late my mom calls, worrying that something happened. We laugh about it....she totally understands and so do I. When you are away from them, in another city, they do not worry about you, but as soon as you come home, they click back into parental mode! I'd like to tell you that "this too shall pass" but it won't so just get used to it. I am on the other end now, being a mom. My son lived abroad for 10 weeks last summer and I was totally hands off! Now he's back with me and I am texting and calling him often again. Good luck this summer! Lily

Posted by: Grace Nelson on May 17, 2007 11:11PM EST hahaha! At least none of your parents live in Ukraine. My parents are coming home for the summer and my mom is already freaking out. I am helping out with my church youth group, and (even though she is a missionary) she is slightly upset. "Do you have to go to ALL of the meetings?'" "Are you sure you can't change the time for that?" And they aren't even home yet... Oh well, I realize that these next years might be the only ones left I have to learn from them. I see my older siblings calling all the time for advice about kids and life so I figure- why not make the most of this and enjoy them taking care of me while I can?

Posted by: CWK Mom on May 17, 2007 11:57AM EST I loved all these comments -- Beth, I sympathize! Try living at home for a few months after you've GRADUATED college and you're going out all day on interviews ... then coming home and being interrogated by your parents about what interviews you went on, what you said, how you did, when the second interview is, what you SHOULD have said! I still remember it with a great deal of frustration. Funny, I got a job 750 miles away and haven't lived near home since ... imagine that! Jax: I love the shared duties dilemma, and your comeback about not having dishes in the dishwasher all year is priceless. Suddenly my middle school issues seem benign...

Posted by: Sadie on May 16, 2007 10:33AM EST I understand where you are coming from after having nine months of independence and freedom. But, speaking from the parents' perspective, I have heard from lots of my friends that things are difficult when all of the sudden their kids are back home and want to have the same freedom they enjoyed while in college. Try to remember that it's hard on us parents not to worry when you leave the house for a night of fun. It's not like we don't worry about you when you are at college, but for some reason, when you are back home, we fall right back into that overprotective mode and want to keep you safe. My suggestion would be to indulge your parents a little and try to negotiate a reasonable set of rules to follow over the summer. Hopefully, this will make the break a relaxing and fun time for everyone!

Posted by: sj on May 16, 2007 10:28AM EST I'm sure it will be an adjustment at the beginning for everyone! I spent all of my college summers away-- two working at Disney World, one in summer school in Mexico and one doing an internship in Washington DC. I'm not sure my parents would have bugged me (we didn't have cell phones back then!), but I just felt this need for independence and different experiences. They are probably so happy to have you back, but don't quite know how all this is supposed to feel either! Be patient with them and tell them your thoughts. Good luck!

Posted by: Jax on May 15, 2007 4:48PM EST It's the opposite for me. The summer before I left for college my parents nagged me and nagged me about being home. Now that I'm home after my freshman year, they know where I'm going once I leave the house--to the doctors, to get a hair cut, to the mall, to my job, or to jazzercize. However, now that I'm home I'm expected to do chores again, like unload the dishwasher. My brother thinks that I should always have to unload the dishwasher, since he was the only one who unloaded it in the past 8 months. I brought it to his attention that none of my dishes were in the dishwasher though. We always used to alternate unloading them for 1/2 of the month, but now I'm curious to see what is going to happen!