The Conversations You Need to Have with Your College-Bound Kid

I had fantasies of what the summer between high school and college would be like with my son. In my dreams I recognize that, as a high school graduate, he has passed over the threshold of adulthood, and I treat him accordingly. Knowing that our family only has weeks left in its current configuration, we use this time to do things with our college-bound kid that we all love.

In this delusion, my son is liberated from the pressure of college admittance and the relentless grind of high school an...