While movies portray the fatal moving day, where a college freshman moves into a new dorm and parents say a bittersweet goodbye, this isn’t a reality for all college students.
College students who live at home and attend a community college or a four-year college nearby encounter a power struggle with their parents, as they find themselves filling their now adult shoes.
When going away to school students are unlatched from the parental lease and are free to explore their newfound freedom, careless and curfew-less.
Students who live at home as college students deal with their parental lease tightened where it should be loose and too loose where it should be tightened.
We are left with the confusion of being an adult that pays taxes, has a part-time job, attends college, yet still has a curfew.
Sure, it’s nice not to pay rent and to have food to eat and a place to sleep, but is it so wrong to request that with a sweet side of freedom?
How can we truly enter the threshold of adulthood without being able to stay out past midnight on the weekends? As well as having to obey curfews during the week? This is ludicrous!
So how do we break the cycle and obtain freedom?
Well it may seem impossible until you transfer or move out, but there are ways you can improve your situation until then.
First, talk to your parents. Oftentimes they won’t understand your point at first unless you explain it to them. Sit down with them and express your feelings towards obtaining small increments of freedom.
Second, remember that you’re an adult and that the more you respect yourself, the more others will accept you. Sure it seems much easier to rebel and sneak out creating your own set of rules, but by respectfully talking to your parents about it you can stay on good terms with them as well as obtain the freedom you wish to have.
Third, no you might not be able to have your curfew completely done away with, but you may be able to have it extended until then. Be patient.
Fourth, although your current situation might not be ideal, it’s only temporary. By going to school, you’re already a step in the right direction. Soon enough, whether it be months or a year, you will be able to transfer to a four year and move out, or you will have a job that makes it affordable to move out.
Also, remember that you’re not alone. The difficulty of living at home in college is extremely under recognized. It’s definitely not easy, and it’s very difficult to feel understood by your loved ones in these situations, but it can only go up from here. I promise.
