Charlotte Latvala: My rules for moving your kids

We just moved our daughter into her first apartment.

It’s a typical college apartment, close to campus. With a refrigerator, stove, and rickety drawers for mismatched silverware. Some carpet stains. A questionable splotch on the ceiling.

In other words, perfect.

As moves go, this one was remarkably smooth. It was a drizzly, not super-hot day. The new place is on the first floor, so there was no huffing and puffing up five flights while carrying a laundry basket filled with the dead weight of ten thousand Tide pods, or waiting an eternity for the elevator, only to find it filled with another college kid, her floor-to-ceiling belongings, and her entire extended family, including visiting cousins from Iowa.

Anyway.

With any luck, our girl will stay in this apartment for the remainder of her college career. That means no moving for the next 24 months. I am rejoicing, because after three kids and three colleges in three different states, I’m tired of this particular rite of passage.

However, I have picked up some valuable tips and techniques over the years.

Allow me to share my Rules for Moving Your Kids:

And if they turn on the sad, helpless child eyes, and beg, and you momentarily take leave of your senses and agree to help them move? Set some rules, just like you did in preschool.

Charlotte is a columnist for The Times. You can reach her at [email protected].