Weathering Winter Break at Home

When the fall semester is over, you are finally able to look forward to the holiday season and a month without classes. However, you may not look forward to living at home during break. On campus, you are accustomed to freedoms, privacy and lots of ways to fill your time. Here are some tips to help you adjust to differences you may experience while living at home.

Less Freedom

You are used to many freedoms at college, but your parents might not be ready to throw their household rules out. Communicate with your parents about changing expectations and responsibilities:

• Curfew. Work with your parents to establish a reasonable curfew. Show them you're responsible by coming home on time. Or, you and your parents might decide that curfews are not necessary.
• Chores. Ask your parents what they need help with. Better yet, pitch in without them having to ask. Do your own laundry, shovel snow and help clean up after holiday gatherings. This will show them that you're becoming a responsible, independent adult.
• Family Obligations. Make sure to talk it over with your parents before you make other plans with friends. Will you be expected to go to all the family holiday festivities?

Less Privacy

Set boundaries to maintain your independence:

• Physical Space. Find a place in your parent's house that you can go to have alone time. If there's no space in the house, go to the library or a coffee shop in town for a couple of hours so you can have some time to yourself. Make sure your family knows you need space.
• Curious Parents. If your parents ask a lot of questions about your life at college, don't get frustrated. Answer the questions you are comfortable with.

Increased Boredom

Since your hometown may not have as many activities as your campus town, you may feel bored at home. You may also miss hanging out with your college friends. Alleviate boredom by:

• Getting Out of the House. Take this opportunity to explore things in your hometown that you may have taken for granted in high school. Find a museum or historic building, visit a cool shop downtown or call old friends from high school to catch up. Rent snowshoes and go for a hike in the snow.
• Spending Time at Home. Help with the holiday cooking. Watch a football game or rent some movies. Find a good book to do some leisure reading. Catch up on sleep. Play board games or cards with your siblings. Call your friends from college to chat.
• Getting a Job. Find a local business that needs help over the holidays to earn some extra spending money. Make sure you're upfront with the business about living at home for a limited amount of time.

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