Lesson 1: She Is Still a Kid
While your child is away pumping her brain full of valuable knowledge and enjoying an endless stream of nighttime revelry, you will be getting an education of your own: one in responsible, hands-off parenting.

To begin, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you proud of the work you've done as a parent thus far?
• Do you trust your child to know right from wrong and to live her life the way you've brought her up to?

If the answer to both of these questions is yes, that's excellent. Now, think back to your college years and answer honestly: Would all of your decisions have made your parents proud? Probably not.

No matter how wonderful a job you did, your child is going to make stupid choices—lots of them! It's much better that she learns these lessons in common sense and maturity now rather than somewhere down to the road, when she's much too old to be excused. Even better, she might finally understand why you had all those rules in place!

Lesson 2: She still needs her parents