For teens heading off to college, freedom is on the horizon and with it come a whole host of emotions and great unknowns. For parents, worries and feelings may run rampant as well. Challenges are present with this new chapter, including academic pressure, managing time, social adjustments, and maintaining mental well-being. These transitions can be especially difficult for students who are navigating new academic expectations, developing independence, and building new connections on campus. With move-in weekend less than a month out, the time is now to make a plan to support your rising college freshman for a successful transition.
STEPS TO TAKE WITH YOUR TEEN
If you haven’t already, step back and allow your teen to fully manage their routines like their sleep hygiene, meals, medications, and even laundry. Identify any last minute areas of improvement that where your child could use guidance. And hey, many of these things they will figure out on their own with minimal harm, aside from maybe a shrunken sweater or reliance on microwaved snacks.
Open and honest communication with your child is essential in paving the way for a successful transition to college. Start by having a discussion with your rising freshman about how they plan to manage their wellness while away at school. This may include finding a balance with class & studying, socializing, sleep, exercise, and their mental health treatment. Explore with them what your expectations are and at what point you may need to intervene and how. For example, if they begin skipping classes, will you allow for natural consequences of low grades, or will you implement a consequence of your own around limiting discretionary money usage? If they are not attending scheduled therapy sessions, do you require them to come home on the weekend or do you drive up to visit and check in? Make sure your child has input in this plan to support their autonomy in the process and identify what works best for them too—these are building blocks to resilience.
STEPS TO TAKE FOR YOURSELF AS A PARENT
As a parent, this transition will be challenging for you as well. Find healthy ways to manage your own worries and the feelings that come with the separation, which will increase your capacity to support your child if and when they need it. Lean in on your partner, family, friends, and other parents. Make sure you set realistic expectations for your child and for your relationship during this transition, reminding yourself to be patient and flexible. And most importantly, ensure you focus on the strengths of your family, and the individual strengths of yours and your child’s. Attention to these strengths will support you all in building resilience in challenging moments, and by praising your child’s efforts, you will boost their confidence to enter college with a mindset of determination and self-efficacy.
SEEK PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT WHEN NEEDED
Queen City Counseling & Consulting is offering a Weekend Intensive College Transition Group for teens and their parents who are headed to college. Over the course of two days, teens and parents will meet together and separately to navigate the change and set your teen up for success. In the group, the teens will focus on addressing fears and anxieties around this life change including topics such as navigating social situations, peer pressure, time management, independently managing mental health/wellness, and other common adjustments students face in their freshman year. Parents will explore their own expectations as well as process their own worries and concerns of sending their teen off to college and a second group in which they will join their teen to establish a wellness and support plan that they can utilize to support their teen from afar.
Date:
- August 8 and 9th
