Preparing for college can be a job!
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Preparing for
college is different for boys and girls!
When it comes to preparing for college it is not the same for boys and girls. I believe getting ready for college is taken much more seriously by girls. If you have a girl, you’ll know what I mean. In fact, there is a difference with the car packed for college for a girl versus a boy! Some girls need two cars to take all the stuff that they like to bring. Girls have more clothes, and room decorations; including everything from rugs, floor length mirror,to a chest for clothes, plus whatever they feel necessity. They are out to decorate and feel comfortable; almost as if they were living at their room at home. They may start on the process of preparing for college immediately after they graduate high school!
Boys preparing for college is low key, a boy may start preparing for college a week or two before he has to actually leave. He may consider that he needs some new clothes, new shoes, etc; however, he does not care how his room is decorated, outside of a few posters. The car leaving for college for a boy has enough space so that the parents can safely see around and in back of the car! In my house, I have been the one buying the shower bucket, the shower supplies, the laundry detergent, because my son did not even consider it. I bought him a new pillow, and he is using the same bedding my older son used, who just graduated college. Getting ready for college has never been easier than with a boy. In fact the parents, do more preparing for college than their son!
My first son made mentally preparing for college so easy for me, that I was actually happy to see him leave. I was hoping he would come back with a better attitude. When I attended the freshman orientation with my first son, I talked with other mother’s of sons, who told me that a bad attitude is typical of a boy to transition himself away from his parents to the idea of being on his own! When a boy is preparing for college he separates himself from being dependent on his parents. As much as I did not like the process, it got better as my son would come and go from Thanksgiving vacation, Christmas break, spring break, and summer break! Thank God, he finally was mentally prepared for college! I was able to have my old son back given some time.
The process as you can see is much different for boys and girls, not only in the physical preparation, but also the mental preparation. Mothers of girls are upset because their darling daughters are leaving and preparing for college. Girls do not try to separate from their parents, in fact they get even closer, as they realized they will be apart for a while. Preparing for college takes a different emotional path for boys, and they try to separate from their parents. Mentally and emotionally, preparing for college can be a job and it is harder on the parents of boys than it is of girls!
PREPARE FOR THIS!