Freshman Blues

Don't tell my kid, but sometimes I sneak into her room to do a little mental redecorating in anticipation of the day when she goes off to college. (That's several years in the future, but the way I see it, it's never too early to measure for draperies.) Like lots of parents, I assume that my kid's childhood will neatly end at the campus gates, at which time I will join the Peace Corps, take swing-dancing lessons and never again utter the words "Why? Because I said so!" But the transition from childhood to college is seldom smooth for parents or...