Maybe sharing locations with each other would help. This started in my family when we were going to meet somewhere for dinner and wanted to know how close they were to the restaurant. Now, we both use it to see if the other person is available for a chat. He checks to see if I am at work and I check to see if he is in his dorm.
Nope. They are both across the country in different states. Itās a BLACK BOX.
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Life 360 is your friend now 
(to track your kid location). This is how I track my kids.
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wellā¦ I wish I were more forward thinking and did this when they were much younger. Iām trying to find a way to approach the installation of the app without him feeling super defensive. He is all very much into this new found independence. LOL
My poor D27 has it on her phone now. Installed it while still in my clutches. LOL
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My family loves location sharing - we all use it and have for years, my parents who travel a ton - we all like to see when theyāve made it home safely. My husband who has to drive to various places, sometimes in bad weather, I like to see heās arrived safely (or when thereās a big accident, I can quickly confirm he isnāt tied up in it.) For my kids, seeing they made it to their destination after a school event, etc. My D24 tracks all us right back, and would be offended if we dipped out on her - last weekend she saw we were at mini golf and we got the requisite ābruh.ā
Now that sheās away at school I use it to confirm she is making it to class (really just those first days) and now I check in before I text - I DO NOT TEXT if I see sheās out and about , I just save the messages for when sheās in her room. I donāt ask about where sheās gone or what sheās done (beyond āhow was your dayā) and I wouldnāt use it in a punitive way, just to take the temp of how things are going.
I am heartened to see this weekend, for instance, she is spending more time in the center common area than her room - the 4 day long weekend last week was ROUGH on her, but she seemed in much better spirits today on our call.
ETA: We donāt require her to keep it on, she WANTS it on. If she decided to pause or block us, she is savvy enough to add a friend to have SOMEONE know where to coordinate the search party if something went awryā¦ (prob helps that I have been the person for my friends to share their location with when they have started dating after divorceā¦ sheās seen that level of ātrusted friendā tracking for years.)
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My S24 turned off location tracking the day we dropped him off! Part of me was upset, but now I think I am better off not knowing. He has provided some kind of proof of life every day, so itās working for me. So far, D24 still has location tracking on, but Iām not sure how long that will last. She also is not my party kid, so there isnāt much to āhide.ā
In other news, S24 has pledged a fraternity and his school football team pulled of a BIG win today! D24 says her classes are intense but fascinating and her professors are wonderful. All in all a good start.
Husband is diligently purging our kids rooms and I absolutely love that he has embraced this daunting task. I am reading more for fun and working out somewhat obsessively. We have invited some fellow empty nesters over to watch the Jags tomorrow. Generally speaking, I think we are adjusting reasonably well 
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We still have Life 360 on both kidsā phones. Definitely helps me with peace of mind. I never question where they were/how late they were out, but it helps with proof of life.
Edited to add: Iāve now read the threads after the original post about this and see Iām not at all original with Life 360! Iām not sure S22 even knows itās still thereā¦ S24 is fine with it.
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We didnāt ever bother with Life 360. After HS graduation, D24 mentioned how all of her friendsā parents were requiring them to keep it on and D24 asked us to not even consider it. Sheās never given us a reason to. So weāre going to respect her privacy and honestly, I donāt need to know where she is at 3:00 am. 
Itāll be ok.
Since dropping her off, we get regular proof of life in other ways.
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Our whole family keeps location sharing on (all iPhones). My oldest shut it off like 2 days after he got to collegeā¦but then he turned it back on at some point and itās been on ever since. I think he realized he likes knowing where all of us are, too.
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The famous Marion Burros torte? Making it today!
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I donāt know that itās reasonable for them to check in every night? When I was in college in the 90s, my parents never knew where I slept or when I arrived back in my dorm!
ETA: that doesnāt mean itās not an adjustment for us to go from knowing where our kids were, for the most part, to this - itās a pretty dramatic shift.
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Yes! While the Italian plums are at the farmerās market, Marionās torte must be made! I also made (for the first time) the plum and poppy seed muffins from Smitten Kitchenās first cookbook, but those are nowhere near as delicious so Iāll be sticking to the torte in future. And yes, I made these back-to-back, same afternoon. Stress baking is real!
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In addition to the torte - in the oven - I made 3 batches of cookie dough for various events!
I met Marion Burros several years ago and she was so lovely. We grew up eating that torte and itās so amazing.
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I love Smitten Kitchen! Debās recipes have never let me down. Havenāt made plum muffins but now Iām intrigued
I love SK too. Have made lots and lots of her recipesāthey are fantastic. On rare occasion (this is a first for the baked goods categoryāand I think Iāve made almost all of them!) a recipe doesnāt work. I might try again with some tweaks. You know whose muffins are perfect? Inaās. Of course. Take 10 pounds of butter, a wheelbarrow of sugar, and a cosmoā¦ 
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How is that going? S24 is EXHAUSTED and very eager for the end of October to be here so pledge can be over. But he has made some great friends so far and is glad he is doing it. SEC Greek Life is no joke!
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Yes, I love Ina too and have all her books, but sometimes itās just too heavy for me. Especially now that my S24 (cross country runner, so high calorie intake) is out of the house. I just love how SK tries to make everything easy and low mess! Iām definitely trying to simplify now that we are usually cooking for two. But, we are having friends over to watch a football game today and trying three new recipes, so I doubt my minimalist will last. Maybe Iāll start really enjoying cooking again without having to try to please so many different palates!
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So, the pledge period officially starts today. Over the summer and the first two weeks of school they only had informal rush (very fun!), and this past week has been official rush with, with today being official bid day (although most frats give out bids before bid day, and you can get bids from more than one frat. It really doesnāt make much sense). So, we will see. My son is highly unlikely to share any details with me, but may tell me if heās tired. Iām very glad his roommate is pledging the Sam frat so, hopefully, they wonāt get on each others nerves when forced to have crazy schedules. My sonās frat isnāt one of the big, prominent, super southern ones, so Iām hoping that means maybe less intense? Probably just maternal wishful thinking
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The droids were always ambivalent at best about it. Then at some point during senior year, one of the droidās primary friend group, maybe a dozen kids?, decided to share their locations with one another via their group chat. Turns out they found it easier to make plans, arrange pickups, etc if they already knew where everyone else was. That changed the droidās tune on location services for the better 
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We planted an Italian plum tree this year in part to see if we could make that torte with our own supply. Not sure when (or if) we will get fruit, though.
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