• My son is returning home for the summer after his freshman year at college.
• Even though he had a lot of freedom at college, I will still reinforce all my house rules.
• I'm nervous that he won't be happy at home with the rules, but I know it's for the best.

I am a single mom to two pretty cool kids. Together, we are a tight-knit unit.

That's why when my son got into college, which was only two hours away, I was a mess. I was thrilled for him, but at the same time, I was completely broken knowing he was going to move away.

The first year at college was an adjustment period for both of us. I had to get used to not having him around the house or at the dinner table, and the house was suddenly a lot quieter. But for him, he now had his own life at school.

Freshman year flew by, and thankfully, we had lots of visits. I saw him at least once a month, and then the holidays were long, awesome stretches of having him home.

But now, as his first year is coming to an end, I am starting to feel nervous about having him back home for the summer.

The biggest thing I worry about is how he will adapt to being back home

There are still rules at home, but there were none at school. I will have to enforce the boundaries under my roof, even though he has essentially been free for the past nine months.

First of all, at school, all he needed to do was pass his classes. At home, the list of rules is long. The first thing we will need to reestablish is that he cannot come and go at all hours of the night, as he pleases. I can't really use the word "curfew," but essentially that will be in place. At school, no one was checking in to see when he would come home or who he would come home with.

Also, at home, he needs to keep his room clean, while his dorm room was a breeding ground for new species. On that note, there was also a communal bathroom on his floor, so everyone only took their toiletries with them when they needed to shower or get ready. At home, he has his own bathroom, and I expect him to clean up after himself.

I am not looking forward to his relationships with girls while at home

While he was away at school, I had no idea what his dating life looked like — or if he even had one. I don't know who the young ladies accompanying him were or what they were doing.

But this summer, there will be strict rules around dating.

Under my roof, it will only be him in his room, and he will need to sleep in his own bed — every night.

I need to be respected, and these are the rules he needs to follow.

I also feel anxious about him being happy to be home

Since these rules will be in effect, I find myself nervous about how he will adjust to his former life when our lives at home stay the same.

It's not all doom and gloom. The one thing I realized is that some of the rules I implemented at home, he himself followed at school.

He would sometimes call me and even say, "Hey, Mom, you would be proud of me; I did this." The truth is, I was proud of him, and the rules were a part of his independence.

So, for the parents who are anxious about having their freshmen return home, take a deep breath and remember, this is still your house, and they should be happy to be home, rules included.

• My 18-year-old daughter starts college as a freshman this summer.
• It will free up her bedroom, which I'd planned to turn into my home office.
• I changed my mind because I needed more time to accept her leaving home.

Like any other proud family, we celebrated when our 18-year-old daughter was accepted into one of her chosen colleges in February this year.

She is fiercely independent and has wanted to study outside our home state of New York since middle school.

She can't wait to move into a dorm — she's already found her roommate on a student-matching app — and hopes to join a sorority.

It will be a rite of passage when my husband and I drop her off at university in August. A bittersweet goodbye.

The flight from the nest will mark the start of a whole new chapter, not only for her but also for me, her dad, and her younger brother, as we adapt to life without her.

I planned to turn her room into a home office

It will feel strange not to have a fourth place at the kitchen counter and not to hear her news every day.

One good thing was that the change would free up space in our house, including in the kids' bathroom, which my 15-year-old son longed to have to himself.

Meanwhile, I planned to take over my daughter's bedroom, which was now available to me as a home office.

I worked out of my bedroom, where my desk was exactly two-and-a-half feet from my bed. It might have been a hop, skip, and a jump in the morning, but it was claustrophobic.

I felt I needed two monitors to do my job more productively. But one of them was gathering dust in the garage because there's no place for it.

Family and friends sent congratulations

The room was much darker and colder than my daughter's, and received only a little light at the back of the house. It seemed like a no-brainer to move.

I went online to look for a bigger desk and office chair. I thought I'd be more efficient in a more professional-looking environment.

Decision day came on May 1. Our senior had already accepted her place, but I felt emotional when she drove to school wearing merchandise from her new college.

She let me post a photo on Facebook of her wearing the hoodie. Family and friends sent congratulations. It suddenly felt real that our little girl was about to leave home.

Something made me walk into her bedroom and sit down. I gazed at the pictures of Paris, her favorite city, on the walls and the stuffed animals who'd seen better days.

I wanted to maintain the status quo

There were half-burned scented candles on the dresser and a whiteboard with a list of past exams propped up against the window.

Random clothes and damp towels were strewn all over the place, but the mess didn't bother me for once. I caught the lingering smell of her perfume.

In that moment, I changed my mind about moving my office into her room. Although it would have been practical, I wanted to keep things as they were.

I had been too hasty in trying to move forward. I've given myself time and grace to see what's coming next.