Parents are usually less likely to anticipate how hard adjusting to college life will be for their child. Your child probably already understands that college is a whole new experience. Perhaps, when the time comes, they will be a little anxious and even excited about beginning their new adventure. However, it can be difficult for them to really get a grasp on how different life will be in college, since they don’t know what to expect. For many students, college is a foreign culture. If you raise your child with the ‘when you go to college’ instead of the ‘if you go to college’ mentality, it is much more likely that they will see themselves as college-ready.
Below are 6 tips on how to instill the ‘college-ready’ culture in your home:
- Ensure that Expectations Related to College is Clear
You can set the college-ready mindset by making sure your child knows that high school is not the end of their education. Lay down the foundation for college early on.
- Include College Preparation into your Daily Routine
Work with your child to help them build-up necessary college skills . Students who are college-ready are organized, focused and have great studying methods. They are good writers, and may have become so on their own through extensive reading or with the help of services like https://www.advancedwriters.com. As early as elementary school, have a meeting with your child’s teacher so that you can learn of other ways to encourage college-ready habits in your child.
- Teach them How to Use Public Transportation
Typically, college freshmen are not used to transporting by bus or train. By taking the time to show your child how they can travel safely by public transportation, can help make their transition to campus life in the future less stressful and smoother.
- Emphasize Communications Skills
Although your child may be a great communicator at home, being miles from home requires a new definition of communication. What is acceptable at home, may not be in the outside world. You should teach your child the importance of proper communication etiquette when speaking to the professors, roommates, friends and administrators that they will be meeting on campus. Learning early on how to negotiate and discuss issues with professors, friends and roommates, will benefit your child tremendously during their college years.
- Teach Key Self-Management Skills
During college, your child will need to be capable of keeping track of huge amounts of information. They will need to be organized, while specifying priorities and meeting deadlines. Their time will need to be carefully allocated and calculated, so they can complete tasks efficiently and on time. They will need to be able to study independently and in formal and informal study groups. They should also know, when it’s necessary to drop a course and when and how to seek help from academic support services. All of these things require self-management skills which need to be developed over time, and parents should start to infuse these skills in their children at elementary level.
- Encourage Them
Encourage your child to volunteer in and give back to the community, try new activities and succeed in school. Students who are involved in school activities have been shown to do better academically and enjoy school more. These types of activities will help your child gain confidence, make new friends and develop new skills.
The choice is yours. You can either stand-by and watch your child’s adaptation to college become a roller coaster ride, or you can start now and create the necessary college-ready culture in your home, which will make your child’s college-adaptation process a piece of cake. By helping your child through this process, you will equip your child with a better understanding and a new depth of experiences.
