<p>Phone calles several times A DAY? Texting 5-10 times a day?? Amazing.
We’re lucky if there is even one contact a week.</p>
<p>S emailed the morning after we dropped him off looking for his hair conditioner. Ten minutes later (before we saw the first email), he wroite back to say he found it. He emailed a little while later to say he was going shopping, as he had just removed a month’s worth of beard without shaving cream and he had the nicks and cuts to prove it.</p>
<p>He contacted us this AM about how his math placement exams went. Don’t exepct to hear anything more from him until later this week when he has his schedule set up, etc.</p>
<p>And so it begins…</p>
<p>D calls me 1-2 times a day, just like in high school. Cell phones have made for an entirely different phone culture, and now that I’m used to it, I love the casual daily contact. I think she may be adjusting to college— we’ve actually had moments on the phone where we had nothing to say and were both happy to hang up! This definitely constitutes a milestone for both of us. But it’s still nice just to hear her voice and to say hi and goodbye. (And lucky for me, she feels the same way.)</p>
<p>It’s been a week. I’ve received one email. There was also one IM conversation, initiated my me. No phone calls.</p>
<p>“Frequency of contact with your college freshman?”
Maybe a couple times a month- if he saw that I was online,he might start chatting. We didn’t talk on the phone more than 2 or 3 times a month. (Didn’t want to hover.)</p>
<p>This year, we have set up a weekly night to call him. So far, he has been busy every time we call.</p>
<p>My freshman S has been gone for about 4 weeks now. In the first week or so he was pretty good about emails. He doesn’t call much (2 or 3 times in the 4 weeks), but I’m fine with email. Now, it’s really dropped off, though. I get maybe 2 emails a week now… if that. </p>
<p>I do miss hearing about the little things in his day. I expect we’ll get down to maybe one email per week and the very rare phone call quite soon. It’s a little sad, but like others have said, I’m glad he’s busy and mostly happy.</p>
<p>I envy you, GA2012! ;)</p>
<p>S is a freshman. He fits the profile! Calls are few and far between. No return emails, and I don’t even hope to be invited into Facebook. Here is another kid that doesn’t text as we don’t have a texting plan. </p>
<p>We try to let him contact us, but we usually breakdown and call him. (Dad usually breaks down but says mom misses him and is having a hard time coping. Ha!) He accepts our calls, so that’s a good sign. We have Skype also so we can see when he is online and call him. Being able to see him is nice. Sometimes I just send a quick hi by chat and he responds to that.</p>
<p>He is busy studying and he’s not calling to say he hates it, so we’re grateful for that. We also get to see him on TV at the football games amongst the other 8,000 students! 
</p>
<p>D goes to college in 3 years. Have already started to brainwash her that she needs to call home often! She says she will. We’ll see!</p>
<p>There have been past threads about this, generating a mother of sons “club”. Sons don’t call, D’s do. We never text, I email and may once in a while get a reply from, you guessed it, son. I call about once every week or so, far less than I want to. You can tell a lot from the tone of voice and responses that emails miss. Third year of this pattern. At home conversations were just as rare…</p>
<p>When my son was in college, he never called either. He still doesn’t get in touch much now that he’s graduated. However, my daughter, who is a freshman, reports that they are in touch, mostly emails and im’s. That makes me very happy!</p>
<p>I dropped my S off for orientation a week ago, and classes started yesterday. I’ve been getting about one call and an email per day. We are very close, and he is enjoying telling me what is going on. Today I got the email that his phone is dead. Admittedly it was an old one, but we were hoping it would hold on until February when our contracts are up and we will switch carriers.</p>
<p>So I am scrambling around, resurrecting old phones to find one to send to him. But it has been fun being able to still help him with something! It has been such a joy to hear from him regularly so far, but I’ll bet his communications drop off a bit when the studying starts in earnest.</p>
<p>My daughter must be a son in disguise! I’m lucky for a call a week, usually on the way back from class that ends with us being cut off when she gets in the elevator. </p>
<p>I take it as a good sign that she is doing fine, but I do miss her!</p>
<p>My freshman son has been gone for almost 4 weeks now. He has initiated ONE call. We’ve initiated several emails and instant messages and he has always replied (except for one text message he ignored). He always says something like he was planning to call us this week, or tonight, or whatever. Hmmm. Anyway, he’s doing fine and I think he’s just so busy and caught up in his new world that he doesn’t think much about us & life back home.</p>
<p>Edited to add: I see from the cell phone bill that he calls his HS friends quite frequently, however!</p>
<p>oregonianmom–</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s boy-speak for Ugh!</p>
<p>My D is a freshman and she and I text 3-4 x a week. Rarely a phone call. I actually like texting because it is less intrusive and requires very little. It is just a whisper to say hello, how are things and visa versa.</p>
<p>Ugh…so true 07DAD. I will say my (now senior ) S’1s telephone etiqutte has improved since his freshman yr. </p>
<p>I’m holding out hope for current freshman S2. I certainly don’t feel the need to talk to him every day but am most annoyed when my calls/texts are ignored. I sent an email reminding him of who was paying the cell phone bill but I think he might be ignoring my emails too!</p>
<p>I get my once a week call on the weekends from each of my kids in college. When each of them were freshmen they’d sometimes acknowledge me on AIM to let me know something (or to ask for money) too. </p>
<p>I admit that I threatened to disconnect their cell phones if they couldn’t give me a few minutes a week when they went off to school. I’d get these cell phone bills showing hundreds of minutes of usage and texts a month, and they’d grudgingly call me for 2 minutes??? </p>
<p>Finally I played the pity card. I’m old, I’m worried, I’m lonely, something could happen to me and no one would discover my body until the mail had piled up 2 feet…when they stopped laughing, they agreed to give me more than 2 minutes a week. We now have a good talk once a week, and I feel much better. (I also figure getting them into the habit of calling me once a week is a good habit to develop now, for later years when they’re out on their own).</p>
<p>On the other hand, my secretary’s daughter calls several times a day. She and her D were close to begin with, and being 150 miles away hasn’t changed anything. That girl seems to call her Mom after every class, every meal, and before/after every date. She isn’t homesick - they’re just very, very close. If it’s that cell phone going off again, I know it’s Amy!!! I’m guessing it will be tough on a future husband…</p>
<p>Lol, Neonzeus, In my email reminding S2 who pays the phone bill, I also included the ol’ “it could be an emergency” ploy too. That was 2 days ago. Either he’s not reading the email or calling my bluff!</p>
<p>I have a S who is now a junior and I guess I am unusual in that I hear from him almost every day. That said, I don’t get a whole lot of real conversation or information from him. Usually, I get “Hi Mom, how long do I broil my chicken breast for?” or can I order him new cleats. I appreciate the contact since I know that it shows a connection. I also have a freshman daughter and since it is just Welcome Week, I am getting all the typical calls - good and bad. Both S and D have been calling and texting each other daily and calling the remaining high school sister.</p>
<p>I just said goodbye to my freshman son (an only child) at the University of Chicago this past Saturday afternoon; they begin very late. We’ve always been very close, but I’m certainly not expecting multiple daily phone calls. He said that at least for a while, he’ll try to call every other day. For my sake, of course. Big sacrifice, I’m sure! So far, he’s holding to that – he called me on Sunday, and again this afternoon, and we spoke for about 20 minutes each time. I got the full report on all his orientation week activities, his housemates, the classes he’s probably taking, etc. We’ll see how it goes. He didn’t answer the one email I sent him (he said he’s been too busy to check email).</p>
<p>Agree that daughters are good on this issue. I’m finding I “talk” about as much as when she was at home a senior in high school. In some ways better communication - she’s appreciating home more now that she’s not here. But I miss her physically - just want to grab her and give her big hug and can’t do that. Hurts.</p>