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| Students show mothers they care from afar |
by Courtney Pellett
PEL02002@BYUI.EDU
Scroll Staff |
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Parents are good at showing their kids they care, but it can be harder for students away from home to return that care. Many students have solutions to expressing to their parents and families how much they care.
A package or gift is nice to send, but most students express their care by communication.
“I talk with my family all the time,” Whitney Coleman, a freshman from Layton, Utah, said.
She has an easy way of doing that without phone cards, e-mail or sharing the apartment phone.
“When I came to school, I brought my [cell] phone with me,” she said. “It really is great because I am able to talk to my mom and family every day, and no one gets mad about me tying up the phone line, because I’m using my own phone.”
Similarly, Eleece Sherwood, a junior from Kansas City, Kan., uses a cell phone to keep in touch.
“I love being able to talk to my family whenever I want,” Sherwood said. “Sometimes when I’m walking to and from school, I just feel like talking to someone, so I call up my mom or sister and just chat for a few minutes.”
She said it doesn’t matter what time of day you call. The thought shows you care.
“One morning while I was on my way to school I just decided to call my mom to say I love her and to tell her to have a good day,” Sherwood said.
This was a wonderful idea that she was able to pass along to a friend.
“A friend was there when I was doing this and thought it would be nice, so she called her mom too and just talked for a few minutes,” she said.
Besides cell phones, there are many other ways of letting your family know you care and are interested in what is going on.
“My little brother sends me pictures he draws in school, and so I hang them on our fridge and draw pictures to send back to him,” Coleman said.
“I like to use an instant messenger to talk to my family sometimes too,” Sherwood said.
Sherwood said she prefers to use the phone, and she prefers instant messaging to e-mail.
“I know it’s not as great as seeing them in person, but I try to keep my family involved in what I’m doing up here,” Sherwood said. “I want them to know that I’m thinking of them and wishing I could see them, and so I express it often.”
“It’s nice to receive gifts and such from those you love, but when it comes down to it, I think it’s much better to know that even when you are far apart from your family, you can still stay close,” Coleman said.
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