<\/a>It may be the change in your child\u2019s attitude. In many cases, they are returning \u201chome,\u201d and while their use of that word for a place away from us is a gut punch for many parents, this is a good thing \u2013 it signifies growth and that they are happy with the path they are on.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt may be that the packing and traveling feels more familiar. You\u2019ve likely spent some time on campus and have at least a rough idea of what a typical \u201cday in the life\u201d looks like. You know that they have everything they need and if they do happen to forget something, it\u2019s a minor inconvenience, not an anxiety-provoking crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may be that you\u2019re more relaxed because your fears from last year went unrealized. Your child succeeded in classes (even if not to the level you, and perhaps they, expected), they made friends, and didn\u2019t do the stupid things you worried they might try (or at least you didn\u2019t hear about it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It may be that you\u2019ve actually been looking forward to them returning to school (though you would never admit that out loud). Once everyone gets used to the \u201cnew normal,\u201d it\u2019s almost impossible to go back to the old one. Yes, you love having them around again, but they\u2019ve grown and changed, perhaps in some ways that you find just a bit irritating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This may all be true, but it\u2019s also true that them going back to campus is another change, another step in them moving away from you. You may be focused on how much you will miss them, and may even shed a few tears. Goodbyes with our kids are hard, starting with leaving them at daycare or kindergarten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And just like those earlier goodbyes, they don\u2019t really get easier, but we get better at managing them. After all, it\u2019s not really \u201cgoodbye\u201d but more like \u201cau revoir\u201d or \u201carrivederci\u201d \u2013 until we see each other again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The second-year college drop off hits just a bit different. I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s accurate to say it\u2019s easy, but it\u2019s mostly likely not as hard as year one. It may be the change in your child\u2019s attitude. In many cases, they are returning \u201chome,\u201d and while their use of that word for a place away from us is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[100],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teens-college","tag-college-drop-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/10\/20170519_122600-rotated.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":596,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/596"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kimberlyyavorski.com\/lifeontheotherside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}