When College Kids Come Home for the Holidays

Every April the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) sponsors Alcohol Awareness Month. This year’s theme is “Connecting the Dots: Opportunities for Recovery.”

As time goes by, things get harder and harder for teens.  Slogging through junior year, SATs, and college applications are all a prelude to the inevitable worry about college acceptance. 

Summer vacation is just beginning, but before you know it, it will be time for many teens to start a whole new chapter in their lives and leave home to begin their freshman year of college. A certain amount of stress and anxiety is bound to come with the transition to independence no matter how excited a kid is to leave the nest. 

The holidays are quickly approaching and many parents are eager to have their children home from college, but the son or daughter they dropped off in August may not seem like the same one that returns for the holiday season.

As fall arrives, college students are settling into their routines. The pressures of college create a great deal of stress for students. Keeping up with school work, getting good grades and navigating new social circles can weigh heavily on a young mind. How does one keep up?

A week of beaches, parties and bottomless cocktails. This is a picture of spring break for many college students in the US. Although it’s portrayed in the media as a week of non-stop fun, spring break can quickly turn dangerous. 

College kids are coming home! You eagerly anticipate their arrival, clean their room and cook their favorite meals. This is a time to reconnect. Find out what’s going on in their lives. Create some wonderful memories. And then the fighting begins...

Move-in day is an annual ritual if you are the parent of a college student. But while lugging heavy suitcases up too many flights of stairs may leave you exhausted, it probably leaves your son or daughter feeling adventurous and excited. Chances are, you go home and collapse and they go out to one of many welcome parties where old friends are reunited and new friends are made — and chances are, there will be plenty of drinking.