How Parents Can Help Their Child Navigate Their First Year of College

There are a few difficult phases in a parent’s life, and one of them is having your child start college. Starting a new journey and becoming an adult can be hard for a kid who’s used to having parents as a safety net, so if your child is going away for college, there are some things you can do in order to show your support. College freshmen go through different struggles and they’re still trying to find out how to accept this change in their lives, so lots of them might need some help surviving their first year of college even if they’re not too happy to admit it.

Encourage Your Child To Get Involved

There are lots of studies that show that students who get involved in different campus activities are more successful and have a better college experience. Whether your loved one is into sports, music, or reading, there are many different clubs that welcome students who’d like to participate. If your child is outgoing and likes to be surrounded by new people, this might be the best way to spend their time.

On the other hand, if your child is an introvert who has a tough time opening up to new people, try to encourage them to find a hobby or a job. Talk to them and tell them that their college years are going to fly by, but they can boost their experience by checking out interesting activities and meeting new people.

Teach Them To Navigate Finances

While living at home, your child didn’t need to think about finances and how to track their spending. Now, it’s time to have a sit-down and talk about the monthly allowance and how your child should spend the money rationally.

Some college freshmen like to apply for a halftime job in order to make some money themselves, so talk to your child about priorities and let them know that balancing work and college could turn out to be really hard. Write a budget plan and help your child learn how to track their spendings, calculate what they need to pay for, and include unplanned events in their monthly financial plan.

Help Them With Learning

Some college freshmen struggle with their curriculum and classes because higher education comes with more obligations and demands. Show your child different strategies for learning and staying on top of their exams. These skills are easy to learn and accept so make sure your child knows how to learn and prepare for an exam.

Every exam is different, and that’s why you might try to encourage your loved one to find alternative solutions such as study materials written by previous generations of students who know how to pass the exams. For instance, if your kid is going to Newcastle University, they can use informative Newcastle University resources that will tell them what to do and what to focus on, and this might be the right way to learn all they need to learn to pass their exams.

Give Positive Support

Your child will struggle emotionally with a lot of things when it comes to going to college – leaving their nest, having to deal with new places and people, and becoming an adult. This is where you need to step in and show them you care and that you are there whenever they need someone to talk to.

Before they leave for college, spend time together, have different family activities, and have a one-on-one talk and let your child know that no matter how scary things get, you can survive them together. Make sure you always have enough time to answer their call, talk to them, and hear them out. This is particularly true if they call you crying because they’ve had a bad day, so just be ready for anything and let them know that they can count on you.

Guide Them, But Let Them Be

Sometimes parents get into the trap of doing things instead of their children which, although it sounds like you’re helping them, is actually far from doing them a favor. Rather than stepping in and trying to solve a problem, teach them how to manage stressful and problematic situations on their own.

This is a part of being a grown-up and it’s beneficial to your children to learn how to manage things themselves. This doesn’t mean that you should let your child struggle – you just need to find a balance between being overprotective and letting your children find their own way of dealing with making grown-up decisions.

Getting your child ready for college is an experience you can all use to grow as a family. You need to make sure that your kid is ready and knows what the future holds. Make sure your child is set, both emotionally and physically, and is ready to handle this new adventure.