Do you see a correlation between how often they call / text you and how often do you call / called your parents?
It’s hard to compare then and now. Today it is so easy (without costs) to communicate compared to when we were in school. I probably would have communicated more often if text and email existed. So I definitely hear from my kids way more than my parents heard from me.
No I called my mother once a week because she requested it. I didn’t set any expectations for the boys and they called me about twice a month or so while in college. My mother still expects my sibs who live on the other side of the country to call her once a week. I still don’t set any expectations for my out of college adult kids but if I don’t hear from in a month I will usually shoot them a text telling them to give me a call when they have some time…and then we will usually talk for a long time.
In my experience calling and texting are not the preferred channels of communication for my kids. They prefer the high tech media like Google Hangout, Facebook Messenger,…
I rarely called home, although I visited once a month. Last year my daughter Skyped with us about once a week, with a very rare text in between. This year, due to some situational changes, we’re adding a phone call mid-week.
I hear from my kids 2-3 times a week, usually via text or FB messenger. I called home about once a week back in the day.
One of my sons would not call home often at all. The other I hear from at least once a week.
Back when we were in college it was difficult to communicate with our parent since we only had a snail mail or phone call available. Now they can do it as often as they want. I guess what I am trying to ask is the pattern of their communications with you is similar to what they observed you communicating with your parent now as an adults?
Once a week from kids, I called my parents as an adult later in life once a week. Yup, does seem to be a correlation.
Not really. And the situations are so different I wouldn’t expect a similar pattern.
I still speak to my mother almost every day. In college I called once a week but it was harder and more expensive than it is now.
My kids communicated with me a couple of times a week while in school but it was more instant messenger or some other form of electronic device. An occasional phone call. Now I hear from two of them almost daily. Usually a short text. The third is less communicative but luckily, his wife is. All three snap chat and I keep up that way when not directly communicating. Which is great because two of them have kids and I love seeing what they are up to.
These aren’t expectations. It’s just what we are used to.
One kid I hear from everyday. One kid when they have something to tell me. Guess which gender is which? ;).
I usually call home about every couple of days, but I never visit during the school year.
Male, 18, Sophomore
My college sophomore daughter and I text chat on Skype twice a day most days. We video Skype once in a great while. Some might think that is too much, but it works for us. We live overseas and only see each other for Christmas break and summer.
When I was in college I wrote letters occasionally, and called collect only once in a great while because it was like $4 a minute. These days I play Words with Friends with my mother (we have like 39 games going at a time) and we use the chat feature. My husband, who was estranged from his parents for a number of years, talks to his mother every few months.
I’ll never forget when our first, a S, went off to college. When we were getting ready to leave after getting him settled in, H and I suggested that we would like to make every Sunday our day to chat. His reply was " Really, we have to talk every week?" Hahaha
Two Ds, on the other hand, called me daily while walking between classes. Often more than once a day. And got many texts.
@morrismm ha! My dad was reassuring my mom once that they’d be so close I’d be coming home every week. I had to stop myself from saying “I was thinking once a month”
And just to break a stereotype, I’m a girl 
When I was in school, my parents and I actually exchanged letters! Like with postage stamps! 
Phone calls were rare, and reserved for “news.” Long-distance was expensive.
OTOH, D texted very regularly, often once a day or more.
D texts about something at least once a day. It might be “How do I wash a tie dye shirt?” or to tell me something about what someone said in class, or she’ll text her dad about football. But she calls to really chat every other day or so-and today Facetimed with me while shopping at our favorite thrift store, then tonight talked to both dad and I while she went about her late night hanging out and organizing her room. I think she gets to missing us more on weekends, because so far she’s called for a long conversation every Saturday.
My son was in the military so calls weren’t common, but he’d call just to hear my voice sometimes. When he was in the Middle East the time difference was pretty drastic so I always almost had a heart attack when the phone would ring in the middle of the night. My older D would call from college to cry about missing her boyfriend or for help with her writing. There wasn’t much in between. Now on her own, she lives right here in town and I rarely hear from her by phone, but we talk on FB all the time.
In college my mother and I wrote each other, or I would call from the pay phone when I scraped up the quarters the first year. My 2nd year roommate and I split a phone, so I’d call during the cheap hours only, and not often.
As an adult when I lived in my hometown I saw my parents several times a week, often having weekend family dinners with siblings and parents. When I moved out to the west coast, my mom and I talked about once a week, but not on a schedule. I had a very long call to her the night before she died. It was very sudden and unexpected, so I treasure the memory of that call. LD was still by the minute at that time, and it was a big deal to have such a long call, but I’m glad we had it.
Now that D has graduated and is “adulating” in another city I do find that there is a correlation. My mom and I talk at least every other day. There is no call schedule just one of us will call to “check in” about nothing in particular. I used to call a lot on my way home from work before the cell phone ban and now often call when walking the dog. D was usually too busy for a lot of calling in college and now that she is working we talk a couple times a week just for news and to visit.
S is a texter and I get random out of the blue texts when something happens that he thinks I will be interested in or excited about. The capper was when he texted me a photo of Jamie Lee Curtis on campus just to make me happy! We talk once a week or so but not on a schedule.