<p>Let it go, PG…offer help when asked. Otherwise you’ll go nuts.</p>
<p>Nobody does anything right the first time he/she does it. Accept the concept that the kids will screw up the first time they pack, whether it’s now or 10 years from now. But with overnight shipping and stores near campus, anything that’s needed can be supplied to them quickly.</p>
<p>PG - Wish you were here last April before we went on our MW college tour. I told DH & DH to expect cold rain most of the time at best, and this time left both of them to do their own packing. DD brought fabric shoes with holes in the bottom and couldn’t find her NorthFace jacket (left weeks before in a friend’s car). DH, however, brought only short sleeve tops, no long sleeve, and nothing resembling a jacket. At least he brought more than sandals and had long pants. Well, it poured rain one day and snowed five (5!!) inches on another! I didn’t expect the snow, but based on the cold nighttime temps (which I warned them about), I was toasty in my scarves, jacket, and cashmere sweater. </p>
<p>I can’t say that boys necessarily grow up, and I am starting the warning message to DD a year in advance that she will not have the room at college to change her t-shirts three times per day because she will need to have room in her luggage for bulky items such as jackets and sweatshirts.</p>
<p>“Let it go, PG…offer help when asked. Otherwise you’ll go nuts.”</p>
<p>There are 2 issues here:
- Will the kids ever learn to pack? (see post 22 above)
- PG’s compulsion to pack and organize.
We’ve all got our little hang-ups. Hard to imagine one as harmless as packing. If it feels good to pack, I say go ahead and pack, unpack, and pack again.</p>
<p>Growing up, everybody in my family had a frustrated impulse. My mother was a nurse, and whenever she wasn’t working as a nurse, she was helping neighborhood mothers with their sick kids or patching up kids who skinned a knee. My brother was a movie director wannabe, and he was always directing the photographs at family events. My father was a born warehouse manager, and whenever his job wasn’t that, he’d organize the hell out of our basement. I wanted to be a writer, and exercised my desire by writing tons of letters to people I knew. We all have things like that, and PG’s just happens to be packing. Where’s the harm?</p>
<p>I like Schmaltz’s philosophy. </p>
<p>That said, my girls have been packing themselves for camp (3 week sleepaway) since they were 10 or 11. They then moved on to packing themselves for vacation. There is nothing like hauling your rolling duffle up 3 flights of stairs on a muggy NYC evening to teach you the virtues of packing lighter. </p>
<p>The final milestone was when D1 spent a summer on a 6 week overseas travel program. There was an extensive packing/equipment list, and one allowed checked bag that could weigh no more than 50 lbs. The night before departure, the bag weighed in at 55 lbs. :eek: It was a painful evening, full of screaming and yelling and tears. Finally, extensive facebook consultation with others leaving for the trip showed that everyone was going through the same thing. </p>
<p>It’s all been smooth sailing from then on. We the parents confine ourselves now to reminders about when new and unfamiliar gear is needed (serious winter clothing, dorm bedding and gear for backpacking and snorkeling). The packing is all on them.</p>
<p>The other thing to watch out for is that the things we think they need, they don’t. Both of my boys are true minimalists. They can both pack for a full year of college including bedding, etc. in a backpack, a carry-on bag and a suitcase, one ships his bike and the other carries on his guitar. They both honestly think they have way too much stuff (and son 2’s suitcase is full of guitar pedals). I want them to have band aids and earphones and extra soap and… they both tell me “When I need it I’ll figure it out”.</p>
<p>I thought this was a post defending the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights! Had visions of Charlton and Clint!</p>
<p>You’re my kind of person. Lesson learned- if you pack it months later they may not know they have it. Good idea to use your expertise to lay everything out on the dining room table (or another place never used in summer). Put everything there you think is needed. Make child go over things and know what will go. Modify after discussion. Then you can use your packing genius to get everything to fit in the vehicle. Make sure child unpacks everything at school (not you).</p>
<p>Can’t win situations. Interfering if you give advice- like the rain gear. I should have told my H to take short sleeved shirts to India one January more than a decade ago. I’ve never been there and he says it is coolest then, but there was a heat wave in his hometown… he suffered. Now he puts out what he wants for trips and I review and add to the pile, watching for my tendency to overpack.</p>
<p>Short answer- Put everything you want to go in the designated place. Make student review everything. Then do the packing and enjoy! You will be thanked.</p>
<p>Last summer (freshman year) I bought and organized things using the guest room as a ‘staging’ area. Son was left to gather his clothes and personal items, which he did lterally the night before he left.</p>
<p>This year, my only contribution has been to buy some microwaveable food and snacks for him to take and a replacement laundry bag. He leaves Sat. morning and hasn’t packed a thing yet but he did bring his mini-fridge up from the basement and hosed it down this morning and he’s been churning out the laundry.</p>
<p>PG - do what makes you feel comfortable and lessens your stress level. You’re at one of the most stressful junctures of this process - your firstborns are leaving the nest. They will have plenty of opportunity to learn to do this stuff themselves in the coming years. Hugs.</p>
<p>PG is packing for twins, I would be nervous too.</p>
<p>Last year a dear friend restrained herself for packing for her kid who was leaving Los Angeles and headed for the midwest. The kid, all knowning, took flip flops, shorts, tshirts and a hoodie. Kid did pack a bit for rush…and one pair of jeans.</p>
<p>Mom tried…kid said she knew it all.</p>
<p>And she did…until mid October when my friend received an hysterical call. She was COLD, and wet and in the wrong climate…and could she come home?</p>
<p>No, my friend packed up boxes and sent them…immediately. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl: Suggest, assist, and at times insist. And if your help is refused and then needed a “nyah nyah, told ya so!” always helps your soul.</p>
<p>…now I am off to reorganize my present and gift wrapping closet…unless anyone else wants to volunteer?</p>
<p>I have been shopping and packing with my dd for over a month already. Who knew you had to have so much? She is packing her clothing and such but I am helping with every thing else. I will help the first time and she will be better at it the next time since she been through it once.</p>
<p>
I think you should consider a second career and maybe this link will inspire you :).</p>
<p>[Get</a> Organized! | Home](<a href=“http://www.getorganized.ws/]Get”>http://www.getorganized.ws/)</p>
<p>My son will be back tomorrow from a visit with friends, and leaves in about a week. I’m making a packing list and a to-do list for him, but I’m not going to pack for him. He will be on the other side of the country, but he also will have the ability to get to stores and/or order things online.
We did a run at BB&B last week so most of the dorm basics are covered.
I don’t think kids need that much stuff. Dorm rooms are small and , as far as I am concerned, the less the better.</p>
<p>I also love to organize. I also really, really want to get one of those California Closet or similar systems into every closet in my house.</p>
<p>As for my kids, D is a chip off the old block, very neat, organized, etc. She has been packing her own bag for trips since age 3 (not kidding). She always has everything packed neatly and well. When we pick her up at the end of the school year, she makes it easy for us by having everything ready to go into the car.</p>
<p>S packs very simply, he simply packs everything he owns.</p>
<p>Do many kids take irons?</p>
<p>My kid did, but not yours, Schmaltz.</p>
<p>Actually, both my daughters are enthusiastic about ironing. I don’t know where I went wrong. Carpe ironus.</p>
<p>irons??? My son used one for the first time here the other night. He pressed about 30% of the shirt (didn’t touch the VERY wrinkly sleeves) and said “good enough”.</p>
<p>I said “next time just throw it in the dryer with a damp towel”. The result would have been better. :-)</p>
<p>Schmaltz - would this apply to your daughters,
</p>
<p>I am still stuck on the ironing thread because it was so much fun.</p>