5 Things to Teach Your College Student

When your not-so-little one goes off to college, it marks a rite of passage for both of you. You pray you’ve done the best to raise them to adulthood, and they’re ready to spread their wings and fly. 

However, parenting doesn’t grind to a halt when your child reaches 18. They still have a lot to learn — please continue to help. Here are five things to teach your college student. 

1. Research Skills 

Your college student will need to write many papers, most of them research-based. Do they have the skills they need? One of their biggest hurdles is avoiding plagiarism. While this offense might mean little more than a bad grade at the K-12 level, universities invoke stricter disciplinary measures, up to and including dismissal from school. Such a blemish can severely damage their future career prospects as it casts aspersions on their honesty. 

However, your child can do a lot to hone their skills between graduation and their first year of university study. They could also pad their resume. For example, some think tanks and research institutions offer internship opportunities that involve collecting data on vital policy issues and reporting their findings and sources. 

Another option is speaking with their new professors regarding summer internship opportunities. They might have better luck after impressing a particular instructor with their interest and skills, but they could receive co-authorship credit on a study, which would look stellar on a resume. 

Above all, enforce the idea that when in doubt, cite. It’s better to include too much information than to omit some and risk the consequences. 

2. Time Management 

College is a lot different than high school. Whereas their K-12 teachers might have held your child’s hand and even reached out to you at signs of trouble, most professors take a more sink-or-swim approach. Your child will be responsible for everything from waking up for class on time to submitting assignments by the due date on the syllabus — often without prompting reminders from their instructors. 

Please invest in a planner for your child if their institution doesn’t provide one — or they don’t like the one given. They must use a time-management system, regardless of if it’s an app or an old-fashioned paper model. The latter provides more space to write notes and instructions while the former keeps their to-do at their fingertips. 

Share your system with them. Inform your college student how you assign time estimates for each task, adjusting them as necessary. At the beginning of each semester, suggest that they write down every due date for each class syllabus. Then, switch to a weekly approach, breaking big projects like 10-page papers into manageable chunks, so they don’t feel overwhelmed. 

3. Money Management 

Your child is legally an adult once they turn 18 — meaning they’re fully able to enter into contracts and be held liable for breaching them. That sounds like funky legalese until you realize how many credit card companies prey on college students, promising them an easy way to afford books and other supplies. What they leave out of their pitch is what happens when your child fails to pay. 

Enough young people start their lives burdened by student loan debt. Please teach your children sound money management practices so that they’re less likely to spend cash they don’t have, digging themselves into a hole. Starting adult life with a negative credit rating affects their ability to rent an apartment, buy a car or even get a job. Help them with books and supplies if you can — suggest alternative means, like taking on a part-time job, if you can’t. 

4. Emotional Intelligence

If you watch daytime TV talk shows, you know many adults reach a ripe old age without learning how to regulate their emotions. This inability to manage stress and frustration leads to more trouble, as the individual’s behavior negatively affects everything from employment to intimate relationships. 

Teaching your children to recognize and label their emotions should start young, but it’s never too late. Introduce your child to mindfulness and stress reduction techniques like deep breathing and “putting themselves in time out” to avoid emotional outbursts and rash acts. If they seem unprepared to manage the demands of adult life, therapy can help them develop the skills they need. 

5. Self-Care 

Part of emotional regulation is recognizing when you’re overwrought, and it’s time to take a break. Unfortunately, few other people in your child’s world will teach them to care for themselves. The burden falls on your shoulders — but it’s a light one to carry. 

Introduce your college student to soothing practices like yoga and meditation. If they’re a bit more energetic, always bouncing off walls, inform them that going for a run or hitting the gym qualifies as self-care. Suggest that they include at least 30 minutes for themselves each day to do something they find refreshing, whether it be relaxing to an audiobook or taking a walk with a friend. 

Things to Teach Your College Student 

Going away to school is a major milestone for you and your college student. However, your job of parenting doesn’t end when they turn 18. 

 

Teach your college student the above five things to prepare them for adult life. They might not thank you right away — but they will in time.