Page 32 - UMKC Parent and Family Insider

NEW HOUSE RULES
By Scott Sager
When my older daughter came home from college for the first time freshman year and almost immediately headed out to meet friends, I started to announce the same old curfew she’d had as a high school senior. Then I caught myself.
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During the college years, we begin to form the adult relationships we will have with our children for the rest of their lives. I realized if I ignored the freedom my daughter had at school she would feel disrespected and we would have nothing but conflict. House rules needed to change because she had changed.
Still, new rules didn’t mean no rules. The first thing we talked about was the impact her actions have on those around her. For example, if she came home very late on a weeknight, it affected the whole house, making the dog bark and waking everyone. Having lived with roommates for a year, she got this immediately. She