Sending your child off to college is a milestone filled with pride and excitement, but it can also be a time of significant emotional upheaval for parents. The transition from having your child at home to seeing them move away to pursue higher education can be challenging.
Here are some common struggles parents face during this period and tips on how to navigate them.
Continue reading When Your Child Heads to CollegeCollege move-in day is a significant milestone for both parents and students. It marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter, but it can also be a source of stress and anxiety. With proper planning and preparation, however, you can make this transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you and your student get ready for the big day.
Continue reading College Move-In Day: A Parent’s Guide
Once your child decides they want to move cross-country for college, a mix of emotions arise: pride, dread, excitement – perhaps even the urge for something strong like coffee (or maybe stronger!). Don’t fret though; we are here to help guide this new chapter with ease and possibly even bring smiles or laughter along the way!
Continue reading Parent Survival Guide for Cross-Country College Moves
It’s a new era for college kids. They are no longer just the traditional 18-22-year-olds who are fresh out of high school and venturing off to live on their own for the first time. Instead, college students today come from all walks of life and have diverse experiences that range well beyond the classroom.
This is why parents need to be even more intentional about what they teach their kids while they’re away at school. Here are four important life skills that every parent should make sure their college kid knows how to do!
Continue reading Life Skills to Teach Before College
We’re living through some pretty strange times right now. Just a few months ago, life was on track and routine. We were living day to day life to schedule – dropping the kids to school, heading to work or completing tasks around the house, socializing with our free time or heading out for fun days out. But since then, the unprecedented spread of coronavirus – a contagious and potentially lethal virus – around the world has turned many of our lives on their heads. The majority of governments have asked us to remain at home as much as possible. Schools have been closed. People are working remotely or not working at all. Socializing outside of your household isn’t really an option. This has posed many of us with a variety of difficulties and problems. But for those of us with kids, school tends to be a main concern. Here are just a few different ways you can maintain your children’s education during the pandemic!
Reduce Pressure
First and foremost, reduce pressure on yourself and your little ones. These are difficult times for everyone and all children are going to be falling behind on their education right now. When schools reopen, all kids are going to find themselves in the same position and teaching will recommence from where it was left off. So, don’t be too hard on yourself or your kids. Instead, focus on this time for bonding.
Look Up Your Child’s Curriculum
If you do want to help to introduce your little one to a few of the things they’d currently be learning at school if there wasn’t a pandemic, you can always look up their curriculum and see what they would be being taught right now. Remember that curriculums vary from one school to another, so ensure you’re focusing on the right one. If in doubt, you could always contact the school and ask.
Use All Resources Available
There are so many great, free online resources out there that can prove educational for your child. Watch a few educational Youtube videos for their age group and determine whether any are good for your child to watch. Use sites like PennyDell Puzzles to challenge them with logic and numbers. Stimulate their creativity with arts and crafts projects or writing projects. Encourage them to read books. Watch kids shows on history, science and other areas with them. Consider investing in language learning software for them. There are so many different options out there!
Set Your Own Tests
Basic spelling and maths tests are easy to set up yourself when you have little ones. Challenge them with simple maths and spellings. Many kids find this fun and enjoy the element of competition.
These are just a few suggestions when it comes to educating your kids at home during the pandemic. They’ll be back to school soon enough, but hopefully, these steps will really help for now!
My goal here is to help parents navigate the college maze. Part of that process is to find and recommend products and/or services that will help parents as they navigate the process.
With college move-in day approaching in the fall and parents using the summer to shop and gather items to send with their college students, I’ve found a FREE service that can help: Campus Arrival. This service makes it easy for parents and students to view and check off all the items the college either requires or recommends for students to move on to campus.
All you need to do is sign up for an account which lets you save your supply checklist. By doing this, you can mark items as done. You’ll also be able to set your school as a favorite so you can link to it quicker. Also, if any other family members want to help and buy you something for college, they can see what you need and what you already have.
Once registered, type in the name of your school (or search on the list by state), and you will see a curated list of college-ready items to pack based on the college’s official recommendations. They have also included items from other schools’ suggestions and expert advice compiled from around the internet. All their recommendations are based on a balance between quality and value.
You will also notice a checkmark next to an item that indicates it is included as an official recommendation from the college. According to their FAQ section:
Our recommendations come in three flavors.
For example, here is a screenshot from a college in Texas: Texas A&M University.
For those parents who are concerned about the coronavirus, Campus Arrival has also included recommendations for Covid-19 prep:
Sincelaptops are a major asset while you’re at college, their recommendations help you with the specific hardware requirements for your school and major. They search the school’s official site. Each school is different in terms of the info they provide. Some schools provide general specifications. Some give major’s specific needs. And some schools don’t provide any recommendations.
Campus Arrival includes the links to the official school recommendations so you can reference them (in the Sources section of the school page). With the hardware specifications, they use CNET extensively to make product recommendations. They also consider Amazon reviews and will search other technology sites to make sure the products are high quality.
Campus Arrival also provides a list of prohibited items and posts the links to the sources they used to compile their lists. This takes the guesswork out of trying to prepare for move-in day and helps parents shop confidently and easily for their student.
If you don’t see you your college on their sight, you can make a recommendation for them to add it their list. While you wait for your specific school to be added, you can check out their General Recommendations list. This list is a combination of all the items they have collected from all the schools completed. It’s a good start and provides everything you’ll need.
If you have a college-bound student, take advantage of Campus Arrival’s convenient service to help you and your student prepare for move-in day.
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These have certainly been times of upheaval. Students were told to finish the year at home. Parents scrambled to help their teens adjust. Graduations were cancelled and even college plans are uncertain. But that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare for the day when they will leave for college.
It seems like only yesterday you are dropping your child off at their first class, and they are upset about leaving you. But now your child has decided to go off to college and will be leaving you without so much as a wave before long. But this is a wonderful testament to the job you have done as a parent up to now, and it’s hard to forget just how much you have done for them, and How they are so successful already from your support and their hard work. There are a few things you can do to make sure that you have prepared yourself for the big day, and that you don’t end up too upset when it happens. Our children taking the plunge and becoming independent is something special, and something to be proud of. So what can you do to prepare yourself for this transition?
Be proud of your child’s achievements. Sharing this with the world and your family and friends is important, and showing your child that you are proud of them will do great things for their confidence. It isn’t always about academic achievements of course, but it does show a certain level of resilience and confidence, as well as a hard-working nature to gain a place in a college. Making sure that you don’t forget the role you have played in getting into this point, and congratulating yourself for the great support you have given your child along the way, is important. So never feel as though you are going too far by showing your pride in your children.
Making sure that all of the practicalities such as student accommodation and the small details are covered when it comes to preparing your child for college, will give you a sense of confidence that everything is taken care of. You can, of course, continue to support your child once they have left for college, and many people do send care packages on a regular basis. But making sure that your child knows where they are going, what they are doing, and they have the support there if they need it, will help you relax and feel much better about the whole situation.
Being there when your child needs you, or even when they don’t, is all we can do. Sometimes they will act as though they don’t need any support whatsoever, and this may be true for many grown-up children spreading their wings, and if we have done our jobs correctly then they really should be quite independent anyway, but just being ready to take a call, or be there when they need you, it’s going to be the most important job you can do when your child is going off to college. Being there is our number one role once all the basics of parenting are done, we teach them everything we can to a certain age, And then must take a step back to just support when needed. You will find that even the most independent college children will feel as though they have got everything under control, but we can always be there ready to catch them if they fall.
It’s that time of year again. Parents are moving their brand-new college students into college dorms. Tears are flowing. Anxiety abounds. Parents have dreaded move-in day for months and sadness permeates just about every single post on social media.
I do remember crying; but not because I was sad. I was joyously happy. Both my children were attending college. I thought it might not happen. Finances were tight from caring for an elderly great aunt and an aging father. We were living paycheck to paycheck and I knew if college were to be a reality, my children would have to score some hefty scholarships and merit aid. Both of their senior years were stressful.
My son wanted to attend a military academy, but his grades just weren’t good enough. Knowing we couldn’t pay for college, he made the choice to join the Marines out of high school so he could use the GI Bill funds to attend either during his service or after serving his four years.
My daughter’s grades were superior. Two years later, I knew that we had to focus on scholarship applications and choosing colleges that met a major portion of our financial need. She was admitted to a prestigious college in Boston with enough merit aid and scholarships to pay for her education with minimal student loans.
All this to say, I had a completely different perspective on college move-in day. It was not only a dream come true for each of them, but a dream come true of mine as well. After all the struggles and the stress, both of them were attending college.
I just couldn’t be sad, because this is what I felt:
My daughter worked so hard to get into college in Boston. It was her dream from the time she was a little girl. And she did it. My son knew what he had to do to achieve his goal and he served his country while earning money for college. I couldn’t have been prouder of both of them.
We did it. It wasn’t just their success. It was ours as parents as well. We supported them through the entire process and we were finally seeing the fruit of our hard work and perseverance. It was no small feat for either of them or for us knowing the roadblocks and struggles we encountered.
They were both, in their own way, pursuing their education and securing a solid future in the workforce. It’s what every parent wants for their children—a better life and a secure future. College would be that for each of them and I was hopeful that after four years we would rejoice when they were gainfully employed at a career they loved.
Both would be attending college in Boston, a city full of activity, sports, history and populated with college students. My daughter wanted to pledge a sorority and study abroad. My son was excited to learn all about Boston and the history there while he pursued a History major. What better place than the place where our nation began? I knew they were facing some grand adventures and travel. I knew they would may forever friends. I knew that college would change them in ways I could never imagine and I would get to share in that growth as I watched and participated at times.
Move-in day was certainly chaotic for both my children. My daughter moved into a freshman dorm where she didn’t know anyone. My son moved into an apartment with strangers. But they weren’t the least bit anxious or hesitant. It was exciting to meet their roommates and their parents. It was fun to participate in the parent events and do some last-minute shopping. We made the most of the few days I was there and I was so happy I got to be a part of it.
Even though my great aunt and father were still living with us, I knew we would be childless for the first time in our lives. I looked forward to traveling, going out on dates together, attending parent weekends, and getting to know one another again. I was also anticipating having a new kind of relationship with my adult children as they mature and grow independently away from home.
All this to say—cry those tears, feel the loss, and grieve a little on move-in day. But while you are at it, celebrate what that day means. Shed a few tears of joy and anticipation. The next chapter in your life, whether it’s an empty nest or simply one less child at home, can be exciting for you and for your family.
