How to cope when the kids bounce back from school

What should you do with your "boomerang kids" who come home from college for a place to stay over the summer?

The first piece of advice for parents and students alike: be mindful of the transition. Parents can't revert to treating their children the way they did in high school, and college students need to remember that they aren't living in a dorm any longer.

The biggest gripe on both sides seems to be a pronounced, unwelcome lack of privacy.

Parents feel they need to know where their kids are and what they're up to while they're under the same roof. The children are confused because they haven't had to check in for the last nine months.

It's also clear that while their kids are at college, most parents operate under the premise of "what I don't know won't hurt me" and intentionally choose not to ask too many questions about their social life at college. But now they're home and their life is in full view-it's impossible for them not to ask.

Parents can even become resentful of the changes and concessions that need to be made when their child or children return to their recently regained physical space.