When the children come home from college what expectations do you have for them and for you?

I’d love to know as I’m still new at this.  I know I’m excited about the pending return of my daughter. But I also know that I’m planning way too much for the short time that she will be with us.

When she came home for Thanksgiving recently I packed so much into her 4 days home that I think she hardly had time to just relax and talk with us.

On top of that I found myself falling into old routines.  For instance, I didn’t want her to sleep in because, well we have so much to do! So I was on her case about getting to bed early.

Can I really enforce early bed-time hours when she goes to sleep at 7 a.m. in her dorm?

Case in point: at a recent Anime conference she attended on campus she explained how they stayed at the conference until 3 a.m. playing something called DDR (don’t ask or maybe Google it) then they went to someone’s dorm to watch movies till 5 a.m.  Then they went and made something to eat in the dorm kitchen before going to bed at 7 a.m.!

Okay so given the flexibility of her college life, what kind of routines I can logically enforce when she returns home?  How about this:  all spare time must be spent with me. Does that seem unreasonable?  The last time she came home I lost a whole day and a half to her girlfriends.  That left me with 2 and half days, half of which she spent sleeping.

Well we’re picking her up in a couple days and I’m trying to put together a list of bribes to ensure that this mom gets time with her first born.  Off to Blockbuster to get some videos with Johnny Depp, then to the market to get ingredients for her favorite cookies (she loves to bake) and then the piece de resistance: a new Doors CD that she can listen to her hearts content (she’s a retro girl).

Wish me luck!