Living away from home is difficult at times but the three month summer break is an absolute killer; a total hive for torrid arguments with parents, siblings and significant others. You’ve spent the best part of the last year screwing up your sleep pattern, making the occasional call home and basically doing all those naughty things that you’d never get away with under your parents roof. Going home was always going to be difficult. No longer can you go out whenever you want, get away with not washing up for days on end or not picking up after yourself. Doing all these things at home will always lead to arguments.
Now I don’t claim to be an expert but as a third year leaving Lancaster I think this long stretch at home will provide me with my fair share of arguments. When it comes to parents, arguments are often born more out of concern than anything else. Trust me, it’s not that they don’t want you to have a life or whatever it’s more of a safety issue. In order to avoid this kind of argument, the best thing to do is to give them a quick text, no more than one or two words just saying what time you’ll be home and where you are. What else you need to consider is that it isn’t just you who hasn’t seen your friends for ages, your parents haven’t seen you either; it’s understandable that they will want to spend time with you so just bear that in mind.
Siblings can be a big sore spot. Don’t get me wrong, my brother and I are good friends but we go to odd lengths to wind each other up. Many sibling arguments stem from sharing, not in the typical sense of “that’s mine, that’s yours” like bratty seven-year-olds, but in sharing chores. Yes, you haven’t had to do it for a while but it makes life so much easier to just get on with it. Have a trade-off of the jobs you don’t want to do with other things that they don’t want to do; it avoids arguments and gets you out of gritty tasks.
The boy/girl friend situation always will provide an argument; whether it’s returning home to a significant other or looking for a way to balance your holiday with a long term lover, an argument may be always around the corner. Whether you’ve both gone to university or one has stayed behind, life will have changed for the pair of you and you have to bear this in mind when approaching an argument. Both of you may see things differently, and if anything, this can add to your relationship rather than restrict or end it. When balancing a long distance relationship, things are difficult. Most arguments stem from nights out with the lads/girls and the old “why aren’t you answering your phone? What are you doing?” argument often rolls out. The important thing to remember is keep calm and work it out in the morning when you or they are sober. Or if that fails, remember; never under any circumstances, drink and dial.
