Turn Your Worries to Wisdom: Prep Your Rising Freshman for College
Feeling Worried?
Got a high school graduate heading off to college? Feeling a bit squeamish? Wondering if they are prepared for college life?
Preparing your freshman for living at college involves helping them develop the necessary skills, habits, and mindset to navigate the academic, social, and personal challenges they will encounter in college.
As a parent, if you look at the data, you may begin to wonder if your student will be one who struggles. A survey of 2,000 undergraduates at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, found that 75% struggled with anxiety and/or depression during college.
Students cited keeping up with coursework, the pressure to do well, and worries about money as their top three stressors.
If you see current gaps in your child’s skill set, do not worry. There’s still time to help them practice and prepare this summer.
Our Academic Coaching team polled our online community of moms of older college-age students on what tasks they wished they would have completed before sending their children off for their first year.
Problem-solving, time management, routines, and cleanliness were the big winners.
Prep your rising freshman for college this summer!
Here are 3 key areas to address this summer that will help prep your rising freshmen for college…
- Develop problem-solving skills – Help your student develop curiosity, willingness to fail, and resilience. Put on your coach hat. Be a sounding board which means listening more than talking. Instead of offering solutions, ask them what they think they should do and let them do it!
- Cleanliness – Create a routine for laundry and tidying spaces – Sharing spaces with non-family members can be challenging. Even more important, keeping their spaces clean & organized is a great way to minimize learning distractions. Plus, no one wants to deal with a bug infestation!
- Practice time-management. Most high school students have jammed packed schedules. In college, they’ll probably have more “downtime,” but this means it’s easier to procrastinate, put off assignments, and delay preparing for exams. Have them practice this summer setting alarms, getting up at a specific time, and planning out their days. But pro-tip, allow them to deal with the consequences of being late, oversleeping, or missing an appointment.
Advice from Real Moms of College Students
- Sign up for the parent Facebook Groups. Just be sure it’s run by parents and not a company trying to sell you something.
- Teach your student how to budget money.
- Educate your student on the difference between debit and credit cards.
- Have them plan a meal, grocery shop, and prep the meal for the family.
- Make sure they know their medical history and how to communicate with medical staff.
- Ensure they know how to check the oil in the car and change a tire.
- They don’t need as much stuff as you think.
- Trust that they will figure things out. They really do grow up!
- They will hit rough patches. Be a soft place to land. Listen, listen, listen.
- Save more money!
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