Thanksgivings Weekend – A Time Line For Relationships

As I was sitting at my girlfriend’s place for Thanksgiving, I was thinking about article ideas and what issues affect students during this time of the year.  For many first-year students, Thanksgiving weekend marks a point where you can finally take a breath and consider your options going forward.  It can also act as a timeline for certain casual or long-term relationships.  If anyone has ever worked as an Resident Advisor or a another position in student life and housing.  There is a common rule of thumb out there that pertains to you, and it’s called “No Tail Before Turkey.”

No Tail Before Turkey!

This rule is there for a good reason and although its not enforced by administration it is frowned upon if you break it by your admin, or even your peers.   If you just met a 1st year student in September, and you yourself are in 2nd year+, then it can make things awkward if you fool around/sleep with each other before Thanksgiving.  The rule of thumb is a good one becasue it gives both parties a decent amount of time to get to know each other before doing anything too serious.  It also keeps certain opportunistic people from “preying” on individuals who are in a somewhat vulnerable transitional period.  Since you didn’t make any bad descions at the bar before the long weekend, chances are things will work out longer if you wait it out.  I’m not going to get into moral values here on how long people should wait before they “take things to the next step” or even if they should at all.  I’m just relaying the things that I usually saw on campus.  Also, this isn’t a story about how men take advantage of young girls when they get to campus. If I had to say of who it happens to more often I’d have to say there will be a 60/40 split, where usually the girl is the older of the two in question…

The Turkey Dump

The Turkey Dump is the other well-known phenomenon that happens around Thanksgiving weekend.  It usually happens to those 1st year students who are dating a younger partner back in high school are trying to do things long distance.  But once the older member of the relationship gets to university, their life experiences change drastically, and their views change accordingly.  Because of this, they sometimes don’t view their sweetheart in the same light as they used to.  This sometimes can happen even if they both go to university at the same time, whether it’s the same school or different ones.  People change, and once they start drifting apart in September, they usually wait until they are home next to do the dreaded breakup.  Since most people go home for Thanksgiving, this usually happens then.  If you are the victim of the “turkey dump”, I wouldn’t worry too much about it (I know, it’s easy for me to say) because it does happen all the time.  Just put things into perspective, chances are that it wouldn’t have worked out anyway, and you’re better off realizing it now!

So if you didn’t know about these two relationship trends centred around Thanksgiving, just keep an eye out for them next year. I can guarantee that you’ll see this happen once or twice.  I’d often tell new students about them, and they would say, “not me, my bf/gf and I are forever,” then they would comeback from the long weekend with bags of turkey leftovers, clean clothes, and a open dance card!

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I have heard of the turkey dump, but not the tail theory. Very interesting.

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