The gentle weather seemed made to order as more than 1,000 parents flooded the campus for Junior Parents Weekend to visit their sons and daughters.

Julia G. Fox, director of the Harvard College Parents Association and coordinator of the weekend, estimated that between 1,000 and 1,200 family members or guests attended, including parents and siblings.

"I think it went well--I got lots of compliments from the parents I talked to, and heard a lot of good things," said Katherine K. Jo '01, co-chair of the Junior Parent Weekend Committee.

Jo said the weekend accomplished its goal of bringing juniors and their parents closer together.

"Our fear is that students and parents grow distant after spending a couple of years away here," she said. "It was a kind of speaking the unspoken, because parents...were wondering if what we're going through is normal. The career panels, like the 'Life After Harvard' one, reassured them that it's okay for us to be undecided."

Juniors agreed that the event helped parents understand their lives.

"It was the first time my parents had come here since Freshman Week, so it was nice to show them all the things I'd been talking about for two years," Jennifer Y. Cho '01 said.

But for others, the weekend was merely an ordinary visit with family.