When Your Kid Goes to College; A Parent's Survival Guide (Paperback)

by Carol Barkin (Author) "It's really happened: Your kid is about to graduate from high school, and you're looking forward to the next big step with a mixture of..." (more)
Key Phrases: commuter students, first visit home, Summer of Anticipation

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"During the summer before he went to college, he was obnoxious; he said, 'There's a reason I'm acting this way; it will make it easier for you to have me leave.'"

"When she was packing to leave, she was completely preoccupied with how many sheets and towels to take. I was thinking, 'My kid is leaving home forever, and life is taken up with minutiae.'"

It's an emotional rollercoaster, a combination of missing him and feeling happy and excited for him."

New Beginnings

You've taught them how to do their laundry, brought them a year's supply of toothpaste and shampoo, and lectured them on the do's and dont's of life beyond your home. The time has come for your child to leave for college -- but are you prepared to say goodbye?

Written by a mother who survived the perils of packing her own child off to school, When Your Kid Goes to College provides supportive, reassuring, and helpful tips for handling this inevitable but difficult separation.

Comprehensive and accessible, this practical guide includes info on:

• Teaching your child how to live on his own, from balancing a checkbook to dealing with a roomate.

• The difference between financial and emotioanl dependence -- and how to keep them separate.

• Helping your spouse, younger children, and even pets deal with the transition when your child leaves -- and when she returns.

• How to fill -- and even enjoy -- the hole that your child's absence leaves.

Saying goodbye isn't the end of the world; it's the beginning of an exciting new one for your child-and you!

About the Author
Carol Barkin, a graduate of Harvard University, has written more than forty books for both adults and children. A native Midwesterner, she has lived outside New York City for twenty years. She and her husband survived sending their son to college, and gained a great deal of valuable and surprising information in the process.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (March 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380798409
• ISBN-13: 978-0380798407
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #81,293 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical, reassuring guide for a time of uneasy transition, April 13, 1999

By	Dorothy Denburg ([e-mail]) "ddenburg" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

After more than a dozen years as a dean of first-year students, I sent my own first child off to college five years ago, after an anxious and tearful summer. My own vast professional experience proved to be an embarrassment, as I forgot all the speeches I had made to parents encouraging them to "let go." This book is a guide that puts it all in perspective, from the practical preparations through the uneasy transitions of the first year. Having read it, I will be much better prepared when my second daughter goes off to college this year. In fact, I plan to keep it on my night stand.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very comforting guide for the whole family., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This book is a comfort--a great guide that can handhold the whole family through the jittery pre-college summer and the first college year. We put so much energy and time into getting our kids into college that we forget that there is another whole phase of life, filled with all kinds of anxieties, that takes over the minute they are accepted. This book is great at identifying all of that in a readable and sometimes gently humorous way--and just helping you through. It really is a survival guide, and I recommend it for anyone whose kid has just been accepted to college or who is in his or her first year.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A marvelous book for parents, July 23, 1999

By	Nancy L. Zimpher, Chancellor, University of W... - See all my reviews

Our freshmen advisors and other staff who interact with parents think that When Your Kid Goes to College is a "must read" and a great resource book for parents. Although my copy is still circulating around campus, I intend to get it back and keep it handy for my own personal use when my son goes off to college in a few short years.