Should I allow him to take XBOX to college?

profdad2021
Mon, 24 Apr 2017 02:01:56 +0000

No. The answer is no. I liked the responses above, particularly the one about the helicopter. But seriously. It is not wise to bring an xbox to college. Obviously, it would be super great if you two could reach this decision together, or at least agree that he should give it a go without that safety net for the first semester. It is just a bad idea to have the gaming system at college for any number of reasons. First, it is socially isolating. And second, MANY kids, particularly guys, have trouble turning the damn thing off. I have two friends whose sons failed out after the first semester, with heavy gaming a primary factor in the failure.

I REALLY like all the comments about how the parents shouldn’t have any input in this question or, presumably any other issue because the kid is probably 18. If college freshmen were really ready to be totally independent adults, this forum would die on the spot. Young adults are exactly that - YOUNG adults. They still need guidance. And frankly, if they are financially dependent on their parents, then at a minimum, decisions like this one ought to be made jointly.

My sense is that you asked the question precisely because there is reason for concern. For those parents judging SO harshly even the notion that the parent would be involved - I say, judge not lest ye be judged. Alternatively, just try to imagine that even though you seem unable to relate to this particular situation in any personal way, maybe it is not THAT dissimilar to some other situation in which YOU were involved in guiding your own young adult to make a better decision. Each one of us are parents of children with individual strengths and weaknesses who will need guidance in their own particular ways. What one might judge smugly, from the outside, as unacceptable helicopter parenting (and NOBODY wants to be THAT parent…LOL), well, sometimes from the inside, things look differently.