<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/</a></p>
<p>There you go! :)</p>
<p>Since I have this forum bookmarked, the way I usually get to the parent cafe is from the link on the upper left corner of this page. It says Top Forums. Click on Parents, then from that page, near the top, is a sub forum – Parent Cafe. Have fun exploring those forums!!</p>
<p>Many thanks for getting me to Parents Cafe! WHOA! Lots of stuff going on there. I was especially amazed that some parents actually buy new mattresses for their kids to take to school. When I mentioned this to my DH, he commented that he “slept on a stone floor and walked to school 5 miles uphill, in the snow, and barefoot.” I had to LOL. I don’t think I’ll even mention new mattress to DS…although his list is pretty small. He is just not concerned (YET) with what he needs to take…I think he just wants to enjoy what’s left of the summer and not think about it right now. Anyway, thanks for the help! Have a great week!</p>
<p>Easiest way to get there from the MT forum is to go up to the very top of whatever page you are on, click on “College Admission and Search” which takes you to a “tree” of all college discussion forums and then scroll down to the “Parent cafe” and click.</p>
<p>I was so sad when my youngest went away to college, but just wait it gets even worse! They find summer theatre jobs and internships. My daughter ended up going away for the whole summer. She is having the experience of her life but it was so lonely for me this summer. I miss her soooo much and she won’t be coming home till Thanksgiving. I am going to come up and help her move into her apartment for the school year.I never thought I would be looking forward to that experience. She is moving into a 3 story walk-up in NY.</p>
<p>I hear you actressmom, I’m not sure I like this whole “summerstock” thing. It’s tough passing that empty bedroom every day. Next year I hope to encourage her to audition locally in NYC/Boston as opposed to the big regional stuff that sends you to timbuktu for basically slave labor & wages. As much fun as she’s having, I think she would rather be up here as well, nearer to family & friends, especially the bf.</p>
<p>Good luck with that move, btw…yikes! I know it will be worth it to see your daughter tho.</p>
<p>I would absolutely buy my kid a new mattress. I didn’t even think of it before, thanks for the prompt! Hmm…what can I sell so I can afford it??? Anybody need a spare kidney?</p>
<p>There’s a less expensive alternative to buying an entirely new mattress for your college bound kid:</p>
<p>Just go to Bed Bath and Beyond and get one of those fancy, heavy, impermeable-by-bed-bugs-and-dust-mites-and-other-creepy-crawlies covers. Zip one of those bad boys on and – voila! – no beasties will be nibbling on your beloved kid. </p>
<p>I think my kid would die of embarrassment if we marched into her dorm on move in day with a brand new mattress. (In addition, I remember an episode of Gilmore Girls on this topic, and, at least at the fictional Yale that Rory attended, it was a big ordeal getting the old one hauled away. I think Lorelei had to borrow Luke’s truck, but then something went wrong because only Yale people could haul the thing out.)</p>
<p>Most kids at college survive just fine sleeping on the university-provided mattress. :)</p>
<p>Do you really think that expensive mattress cover is THAT good? I never heard of one before. . .I’m wondering if it’s the new marketing tool for Fall 2008. Everyone is now running to BBB to get that mattress cover. . .and I’m guessing they’ll buy other things there on the way in and out!</p>
<p>Many schools are moving to vinyl covered mattresses instead of the old cloth covered ones. Ask your school if they have vinyl ones and get the mattress replaced if you get a cloth one. The vinyl ones can be wiped down with whatever you prefer to sanitize them before use.</p>
<p>letsfigureitout, I honestly dunno if the mattress cover sold at BB and B is a really good one. But I do know that ever since both of my girls were diagnosed with severe allergies to dust mites back when they were small, we’ve had great success using those dust mite-proof/allergy mattress covers and pillow covers as an allergy control device. The allergist said that people who are allergic to dust mites get something like 85% of their daily exposure when in bed at night, because they are just lying there, with their faces and bodies right up against the main source of that particular allergen. So various companies sell covers that are guaranteed to be impermeable to dust mites. </p>
<p>The allergist said that had we not done that (as well as other things, including removing wall to wall carpeting and curtains/drapes, etc.) in our older daughter’s room, she would likely have had serious asthma from her allergies by now. She doesn’t. So I pretty much swear by those covers.</p>
<p>In addition, the one at BB and B is supposedly guaranteed to be impermeable to bed bugs. </p>
<p>If you think about it, the mattress at your garden variety motel/hotel is probably just as (or almost as) unsanitary as any college dorm mattress. </p>
<p>I think MichaelNKat’s advice (make sure that the mattress is vinyl or ask for a replacement from the college … you shouldn’t have to provide it yourself) is very sensible.</p>
<p>NotMamaRose, I had to absolutely laugh out loud when I read your reference to “go to the mattresses- with apologies to the Godfather”. I just watched You’ve Got Mail the other day for the 100th time and that’s what I thought of when I read your post! :)<br>
Thanks for all the feedback about the bedding issues…so many things that I never even thought of up until I read it on this site. Ch-ching! My credit card will definitely be smoking when it’s all said and done! :)</p>
<p>I’m not worried about boogers, I’m thinking COMFORT.</p>
<p>If you’re concerned about comfort, an option might be one of the various inexpensive “mattress toppers”. Two years ago we got a “memory foam” pad for D when she went off to college. She swears it made her mattress at school more comfortable than the one at home! Seems to be a simpler alternative than Lorelei’s for Rory! :)</p>