My sophomore year of college, I had an amazing year of freedom, living in a house with four of my sorority sisters. I relished in the idea of truly becoming an adult. Living with four close friends was like having that endless sleepover I dreamed about as a middle schooler. Then, summer came and I found myself with a great internship in the marketing department of the same hospital where my mom worked. This meant I was moving back home for the summer! HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!
After the first week at home, I was dealing with some major passive aggression toward my parents. I quickly realized if I wanted to be treated like an adult, I would have to start acting like one. As summer winds down, and I have had time to reflect. Here are tips that I learned along the way on how to survive living at home after enjoying the freedom of college:
1. Communicate.
This is something vital to all relationships, but I needed to have these conversations openly with my parents. We needed to discuss our expectations to nip any disagreements in the bud. I realized I needed to stop being passive aggressive because this only furthered the conflict. And they needed to realize that I was no longer a child, who needed strict rules and guidelines.
2. Do Your Part
My bank account will be eternally grateful that my parents allowed me to live with them rent-free. However, if I wanted to be treated like the adult (I claimed to be), I needed to pull my weight. Don’t revert back to your teenage ways because you’re home again. I felt that helping around the house, making grocery runs, or making dinner a few nights a week showed my appreciation. It also showed them that I am willing to take on responsibility.
3. Involve Them
My parents simply want what’s best for me; I know we hate to admit that sometimes. They were just as excited about my internship as I was. This translated into a lot of curiosity and questions. At first, I tried to shut them out, but eventually my stubbornness gave way when I realized they genuinely interested in me. By opening up to my parents, I showed them how thankful I was for the opportunities. Thus, they finally saw me as a young professional.
Overall, this summer was a success: an awesome internship and an opportunity to grow my relationship with my parents. I think we both figured out our new identities, mine as a millennial beginning to forge my path in the world as an adult and my parents’ as the “parents of an adult”. I finally was able to see my parents as friends, and people willing to advocate for my future. Even more shockingly, I also realized that turning into my mother was inevitable, and wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but that is a story for another day, my friends.
Kaitlyn Kramer is a 20 year-old junior public relations major at the University of Florida. After interning within healthcare communications, a start-up and nonprofits, as well as studying international development in India, she has a passion for social change communications. She believes story-telling is the key to change and a good story is the catalyst needed to change the world, which is why she is majoring in public relations.
Leave a Reply