Moving away from home doesn’t mean the relationships we have with our parents should vanish.

Communication between parents and students should be open when expressing viewpoints, but should demonstrate a mutual respect for privacy at the same time.

I am originally from Torrance, Calif., and being more than 480 miles from home has definitely resulted in some major homesickness.

As if the beaches and beautiful weather weren’t enough to miss, coming to Chico has made me truly appreciate the relationship I have with my mom.

Although we both have hectic schedules, we always find time in our days to text each other.

I made an agreement with her to text at least once a day. Her mind is put at ease knowing that I’m safe and I’m able to maintain the strong relationship that I’ve always had with her.

While students may be dealing with homesickness away at college, our parents may be dealing with “empty nest syndrome.”

This syndrome hits when parents feel grief and loneliness when their children leave home.

Parents shelter and fed their children for 18 years, the least students can do is take 30 seconds out of their day to send a text message.

It could be as simple as, “Good morning. Have a great day at work. I love you.”

We spend entire days glued to phones anyway, why not make time to text mom and dad?

Transitioning from always being taken care of to caring for ourselves may be challenging. Despite how much some students may want to avoid it, we all have to grow up and be adults eventually.

There is nothing wrong with feeling anxious and fearful of growing up and being forced to start acting like an adult. However, the only way we’ll ever be able to grow up is by learning how to be independent.

So how much is too much dependency on parents?

While living in the dorms my first year, I was able to see the different relationships my friends had with their parents.

It ranged from some calling their parents every single day, to others only calling them when they needed more money in their bank accounts.

A majority of students still rely on their parents to pay their bills and tuition, which is just another reason why communication with parents is important.

Give them a reason to feel like they made the right choice by investing their money in Chico State.

They just want to know how school, classes and your life are going.

Just be sure to leave your weekend plans out of the conversation.

Veronica De La Cruz can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.