Parents' or Family Weekends on Campus

Family Weekends or Parents’ Days used to be held at only large universities with well-established parent programs, but now most colleges have some sort of weekend or just a Saturday where parents are invited to spend some time with their child at his or her new home on campus. It’s no accident that most colleges hold their family weekends at about four to eight weeks into the fall semester. By that time, not only has your child finally settled into a routine on campus and can show you all the local hot spots, but you and your child are ready for a nice long visit.

On my campus and on countless other division one universities across the nation, these weekends often fall on a home football weekend. As the person who plans the weekend and coordinates student groups and others who plan events on these weekends, I sincerely apologize for the sometimes rushed feel of the weekend. I can honestly say that I lie awake at nights hoping and praying that kickoff isn’t moved before 2:30pm.

I always worry about families feeling rushed under these circumstances, but overall, as the day winds down to an end and families are still enjoying post game tailgates and strolling through campus gardens, I am reminded that family weekend isn’t about football games, tailgates, buying matching t-shirts or even the events that student groups hold during these days, it’s about families getting together and enjoying their changing relationships. It’s about parents seeing their child as an adult for perhaps the first time, and students seeing their parents as the college students they once were, and bonding over this experience they now share.

If you are disappointed that you are unable to attend your child’s family weekend due to a conflict or distance, don’t worry. Any weekend that you can make it to campus is a “family weekend”, a chance for you to share a unique experience with your child. In fact, planning a visit later in the semester is just as much fun. If you time it right and avoid game days and other busy weekends on campus you may find that hotel rooms are cheaper and there are no long waits at local restaurants.

I receive a lot of calls from parents before family weekend asking what they should do with their child on the weekend. While there are usually a number of events planned for the weekend, we realize that you can’t attend them all.  The most important thing to do is to discover what your child’s life is like on a daily basis. Ask for a tour of his or her classrooms, ask him to take you to his favorite place to eat, or ask him to show you his favorite places to hang out. Doing this gives your child a chance to show you what his life is like every day so the next time me mentions that he’s on his way to his biology lab, you’ll know where that is.

Younger siblings usually love visiting for family weekends and if possible, enjoy spending the night in your college student’s dorm room while you stay at a hotel. Younger kids are usually pretty flexible and a small cot or a sleeping bag on the floor is a fun way to spend the night with their older sibling in the “grown up” atmosphere of a college residence hall.