Funny questions from parents at freshman orientation

[clh2]

My DD is one of 11 student aides that are heavily involved in the freshman orientation program at her college. One of the sessions has the student aides as a panel, and the parents are able to ask any questions they have. At the current session - one of the parents asked:

How often do you call your parents?

The student aides consist of 4-guys and 7 women. They went down the line, and each student aide answered the question.

The next question/statement asked by a different parent was: So - if you are the parents of a girl, you'll hear from your daughter frequently, and if you are the parents of a guy - you're sort of screwed?

 

[rodeo65]

My DD is one of 11 student aides that are heavily involved in the freshman orientation program at her college. One of the sessions has the student aides as a panel, and the parents are able to ask any questions they have. At the current session - one of the parents asked:

How often do you call your parents?

The student aides consist of 4-guys and 7 women. They went down the line, and each student aide answered the question.

The next question/statement asked by a different parent was: So - if you are the parents of a girl, you'll hear from your daughter frequently, and if you are the parents of a guy - you're sort of screwed?

Makes me think of that old saying; "a daughter is a daughter all of her life, a son is a son 'till he takes a wife" (modified in today's age to "or goes off to school")

 

[deedeetoo]

My how things have changed. When I went to college, long distance phone calls were very expensive so I hardly ever called my parents. If I did it was because I was coming home and needed to be picked up somewhere. My dad wrote me a letter once a week. I don't even remember writing back but I must have done it. And of course there was no e-mail or cell phones in those days.

 

[Gina]

I have my only son heading off to college in 2 months -- I hope that's not the case!! I don't think it will be... he'll call to ask how the animals are, if nothing else. Lol.

There is a huge thread on the College Confidential boards about funny questions asked at orientation... some of them are absolutely hilarious because they're just so ridiculous. Parents asking things like, "What's the policy on parents staying over in the dorms?" and "My Susie has always had a hard time making new friends. Will you (the RA's) make sure she doesn't just stay in her room the whole time?"

And then there's the "chocolate milk lady"... ROFL.. Almost as famous on the CC boards as the "corn people" here on the DIS. Let me see if I can go find the choco milk link -- it's a classic!

 

[bballmom56]

So - if you are the parents of a girl, you'll hear from your daughter frequently, and if you are the parents of a guy - you're sort of screwed?

Ummmm, yeah, kind of, lol! But that was ok with me. If all was well, I rarely heard from him. When there was a problem, I was the first to know! So it really was "no news is good news" and everything was ok!

But I didn't really hear from my DD much either. They were both busy learning and living their new experiences. If I contacted them, they would reply promptly.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Not the case here. DD rarely contacts home - between the time zone difference and school, her two jobs, and her leadership position, there is rarely a good time.

Communication happens through email/text/Facebook.

 

[clh2]

My how things have changed. When I went to college, long distance phone calls were very expensive so I hardly ever called my parents. If I did it was because I was coming home and needed to be picked up somewhere. My dad wrote me a letter once a week. I don't even remember writing back but I must have done it. And of course there was no e-mail or cell phones in those days.

I TOTALLY remember those days. And the rates dropped after 11pm and on weekends.

Ironically - with all the electronic methods to get ahold of our college students - mine still LOVES to get regular mail! And, if it is a care package, all the better!

 

[pryncess527]

My how things have changed. When I went to college, long distance phone calls were very expensive so I hardly ever called my parents. If I did it was because I was coming home and needed to be picked up somewhere. My dad wrote me a letter once a week. I don't even remember writing back but I must have done it. And of course there was no e-mail or cell phones in those days.

Tell me about it! I talked to my mom about once a week, if that.

I work with a woman who's daughter just finished her freshman year of college. I swear that child called her momma 20 times a day. I got so tired of overhearing those conversations . . .

 

[DizBelle]

I have my only son heading off to college in 2 months -- I hope that's not the case!! I don't think it will be... he'll call to ask how the animals are, if nothing else. Lol.

There is a huge thread on the College Confidential boards about funny questions asked at orientation... some of them are absolutely hilarious because they're just so ridiculous. Parents asking things like, "What's the policy on parents staying over in the dorms?" and "My Susie has always had a hard time making new friends. Will you (the RA's) make sure she doesn't just stay in her room the whole time?"

And then there's the "chocolate milk lady"... ROFL.. Almost as famous on the CC boards as the "corn people" here on the DIS. Let me see if I can go find the choco milk link -- it's a classic!

Link please! This sounds like a must read.

 

[Gina]

Found it! Scroll down a few to PinotNoir's post:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/13216797

The whole thread is funny... it's about parent faux pas at orientation and move-in time.

 

[NotUrsula]

My how things have changed. When I went to college, long distance phone calls were very expensive so I hardly ever called my parents. If I did it was because I was coming home and needed to be picked up somewhere. My dad wrote me a letter once a week. I don't even remember writing back but I must have done it. And of course there was no e-mail or cell phones in those days.

My freshman roommate's Dad worked in Saudi Arabia. Naturally, she couldn't ever afford to call him, so he called her -- at 5 AM local time!!! I always wanted to rip the bloody phone out of the wall.

.... And we won't get into how fun it was to try to explain to her Dad why she wasn't answering at that hour if she happened to have spent the night in her boyfriend's room across campus.


As to my DS, I figure I'll get a text once in a while, on major holidays, or if he needs money or medical advice. Otherwise I'll just assume that he's fine.

 

[laurafergie]

If it wasn't for texting, we would go for months without talking to DS. And if I didn't call DH's mother, she would never know anything about us or the kids. I do talk on the phone with older DDs at least once a week and they also text daily.

 

[phamton]

Found it! Scroll down a few to PinotNoir's post:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/13216797

The whole thread is funny... it's about parent faux pas at orientation and move-in time.

That was funny. I really liked this one also: "This was years ago when DS was a freshman. There was a suitcase or something that I asked DS to move since he was now a "young man" while DW insisted I do because it was heavy. While we were debating this, a young lady who was part of the move-in team the school had arranged to help the freshman, grabbed it and literally sprinted up the stairs and deposited it in his room."

 

[thebutlerdidit]

At my DD orientation most of the question were about underage drinking. The questions always started " I know my child doesn't drink.........but what if she gets caught?" This went on and on. Really? None of their kids ever had a drink? Believe me I don't condone underage drinking, but I also know it happens in every town. If you haven't taught your kids about drinking by the time the go off to college, it is too late. I was finally called on and I changed the subject to something else. The student leaders were all relieved, for about 5 minutes...........

 

[Robinrs]

Our freshman orientation was basically TAKEN OVER by one obnoxious father that kept standing up and touting his daughter's AP classes and honors blah blah blah. After awhile, the woman in charge of the financial aid basically SHOT HIM DOWN and told him that it didn't matter to them and this is COLLEGE and not HIGH SCHOOL.

The parent next to me whispered "its about time!"

 

[LBIJim]

My how things have changed. When I went to college, long distance phone calls were very expensive so I hardly ever called my parents. If I did it was because I was coming home and needed to be picked up somewhere. My dad wrote me a letter once a week. I don't even remember writing back but I must have done it. And of course there was no e-mail or cell phones in those days.

Calling home collect from the hall pay phone was the norm during my college days. Not that I called that often, but my mother eventually gave me one of those cards where you could charge pay phone calls to your home number. I suppose that was cheaper than collect. Sure, I charged calls other than to home occasionally, but I never abused it by calling New Zealand or anything.

Oldest daughter was very homesick for a while and called several times a day for the first few weeks. Youngest daughter seemed to have disappeared when she went off to college.

Jim

 

[clh2]

Our freshman orientation was basically TAKEN OVER by one obnoxious father that kept standing up and touting his daughter's AP classes and honors blah blah blah. After awhile, the woman in charge of the financial aid basically SHOT HIM DOWN and told him that it didn't matter to them and this is COLLEGE and not HIGH SCHOOL.

The parent next to me whispered "its about time!"

We had one of "those" parents at our orientation too, except his son was on the soccer team, so, clearly more important than your example of the dad with a kid who takes AP classes in high school.

 

[frostywolf]

Parents go to freshman orientations nowadays? My, my how times have changed.

 

[leebee]

Parents go to freshman orientations nowadays? My, my how times have changed.

Some parents need it. How else would they know how to pick out their kid's classes? (I kid you not, I have a friend whose daughter will be a sophomore at a school 3/4 of the way across the country and Mom is still picking out the kid's classes )

 

[NotUrsula]

Parents go to freshman orientations nowadays? My, my how times have changed.

Most schools have now created PARENT orientation meetings, mostly to keep nosy parents OUT of the student meetings, as so many of them were crashing them. Some schools have upperclassmen act as "parent bouncers" to gently remove them from meetings that they are not invited to.

A couple of schools have even instituted symbolic farewell ceremonies where the students deliberately walk somewhere together, leaving their parents behind.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/education/23college.html?_r=0

PS: Funniest parent story I've heard happened at the UPS store: a parent over-night shipping rolls of quarters so that her child could do her laundry. Apparently, she felt that getting change was going to be too much for her little darling to handle.