What Behavior Can Parents Expect From College Students On Winter Break?

Depending on the student and the family, you may see a myriad of behaviors from college students on winter break:

* Hibernating bear. Students who are exhausted from cramming for exams and/or partying, may want to come home to sleep and rejuvenate. They want to be taken care of and see home as the place to get that kind of mom and pop care.

* Re-identify. Many college students come home to keep up their friendships and social life that they left behind here. Sometimes students do this to show off where they are in their college lives to their friends back home. Other times they just want to keep up their new friends and old friends. Other times, their college lives are unsatisfying, and they’re looking for the satisfaction they got from old friends at home.

* The weekend date. Your college student may have a sexual life at college you were not aware of or is new to you, and you may get a shock when you student brings home a boyfriend or girlfriend from college to stay with you for the holidays — and they expect to share a bedroom. Be gracious to your guest, but stick to your morals. If you’re uncomfortable with them sharing a bedroom, stick to your guns. You can’t keep them from having sex, but you can maintain rules in your own household.