On your bedroom wall, there is a 5x7 foot poster of the entire High School Musical cast. It’s framed. Zac Efron grins out from behind his man bang at you, seeming to say, “Hey girl. It’s been a while. You look different.” All manner of plush fluffy stuffed things crowd the space at the foot of your bed. You remember that you used to sleep curled up in a ball, so you wouldn’t mess them up. You were also shorter then.
Maybe you’ve just grown, but there seems to be less space now than there was before. You jostle around your mom’s StairMaster 4000, which is gathering dust where your desk used to be, so you can get to your closet, but nothing on the hangers is something you would wear anymore anyway.
There you are, a twentysomething post-grad, standing in the center of your childhood bedroom where you’ve moved back after four incredible, crazy, and completed college years, surrounded again by all the remnants of your former self, and all you can think is: a) Thank God Zac Efron grew out that man bang and b) What am I getting myself into?
We understand. Let Her Campus help you navigate the labyrinth of moving back home after college and how to readjust to life with your parents as roommates. Step one? Give Troy Bolton one final peck, and tear down that poster for good. (Sorry Zac, baby!).
“I’m not your baby anymore.”
For the first decade or so of your life, you relied on your parents for just about everything. Never mind the fact that it’s been another decade or so since this was the case; your parents will likely never emerge from mom-and-dad-mode. You’re their baby, and it may take a little time to convince them not to treat you as one once you move back into their home.
Beth, a graduate of University of Toronto, moved back in with her parents for four months before she started her first teaching post the fall after graduation. “My mom was constantly reminding me to put on a coat or bring a sweater, and my dad was always asking if I’d checked the oil in my car lately, did I have enough gas, et cetera. They were so well-meaning, but I asked them to give me three weeks of no reminders as a test. When the weeks went by without me suffering hypothermia or becoming stranded on a dark deserted road in a broken-down car, they relaxed, and then so could I.”
Your parents do mean well, but their well-meaning may get lost in the delivery. Brian, a graduate of University of Calgary, knows this after living with his mom periodically after graduating from school. “If I said I was going to be awake by 7:20 a.m., I could expect my mom to be knocking on my door at 7:19 a.m. I appreciated the sentiment and knew that she just didn’t want me to be late for anything, but at the same time, an alarm clock was enough to keep me from running late for four years— and an alarm clock alone still did the trick.”
Ask your parents for a grace period of one week to prove to them you can handle yourself independently. It may feel childish—kind of like when you wanted a Bichon Frise at age 10 and proved to your parents first that you could keep your Tamagotchi alive longer than a fortnight—but a trial period of a week free of parental pestering, nagging, and “friendly reminders” will prove you capable of managing your own daily routine without two personal assistants.
