Advice for First Summer Precollege Experience

Hoggirl
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 16:35:38 +0000

My ds did summer programs for four consecutive years. As a general rule, the older they are, the more freedom they have to go off campus, etc. I would basically tell him to make sure he follows the rules of the program and stays with his group. For some reason, my dh felt compelled to tell ds not to do any gambling??? No idea why - makes me think dh might have gotten taken in a card game at a young age. Lol!

I agree with everything @EllieMom said. The experience of living away from home in a dorm setting, learning how to do laundry, going into situations where you know no one were all huge confidence builders for my ds. I think all his experiences helped prepare him for college.

The separation will likely be harder on you than it is on him. I think a daily check-in is a wee bit excessive. Maybe start off with that for the first couple of days, but then back off from that requirement. Depending on the type of program, he is likely pretty well-supervised, and you would be contacted if something were dire. Ds is our only, so we enjoyed more couple time and some long weekend trips while he was gone to his programs.

I hope your ds loves it!