College life has many academic challenges, freedoms, and choices that easily overwhelm new students. Lack of guidance by parents might expose students to many vulnerabilities leading to making bad choices. In this guide, parents will get inspired with ideas on the best way to help children manage changes and make the right choices.
Understanding common academic challenges in college
College challenges range from making decisions to managing time and making social life choices. Due to this, many students might experience course misalignment. This further turns into mental health issues, depression, or procrastination. The greatest parent’s role should be helping their children adjust and deal with these challenges.
Writing papers might be an entirely new experience for most new college students. Learning how to write and research is critical but understanding the starting point is more challenging. You can find someone doing homework on the professional writing site EduBirdie. Navigating this environment might feel confusing for many learners so outside assistance becomes a necessity. The parent’s role in this issue should be to offer guidance in choosing the right professional writers and engaging with them. Support them connect with experienced writers to ensure they get homework done on time and always.
How parents can support their child manage academic challenges
- Discuss the new challenges to understand how the child feels about them and guide them on the best solutions to engage with.
- Help them create a support network where they can always reach out for help in time of need. This network may include the student community, professional writers, professors, and tutors.
- Help them create a friendly learning environment – from a well-organized study room to exam planning and taking breaks to monitoring success.
- Provide the right resources for handling academic workload management. These could be devices, books, tuition, etc.
Knowing when to seek professional help
Professional help for college is diverse. It can range from welfare to counseling and emotional support. Some students might need mental health support. This helps them overcome difficult situations. Understanding the type of help requirement is important to every student.
Students need professional help when they need to solve an issue whether good or bad. These issues could range from stress to peer pressure, complex topics, and careers. Parents should be quick to guide the right places to get expert support. This calls for keenness on parents to let them identify signs that their children require help.
Support can come from the campus health center, college career center, or advisor’s team. Support the learner to feel comfortable and develop the boldness to seek help without fear. Help from experts can help students build resilience and better themselves and others.
Encouraging self-advocacy and independence
Self-advocacy and independence are important to students, It trains them to be confident. Students learn to solve problems, make decisions, and build healthier relationships. Learners can develop independence by practicing self-advocacy through research, writing, and speaking up.
They can develop self-advocacy by engaging in extracurricular activities and community service. Parents can help their children develop these virtues by letting them make choices. Encourage them to take care of their wellbeing and take risks. Train them to speak out constructively and develop modesty, set goals, and manage themselves well.
Offering emotional support without overstepping
Emotionally supported students feel understood and loved by their parents. This helps them develop self-confidence and do well in academics and social life. The best way to emotionally support your children is to listen to them and show them affection.
Parents should play the role of a guide and role model to children helping them settle quickly in life. This role should not be overstepped to a level where parents become controllers instead of guides. Communicate your values directly. But let the child be the final decision-maker about their life, career, and education.
Teaching problem-solving skills and resilience
Resilience teaches children to approach situations with confidence. It teaches them to deal with issues, relationships, and uncertainties. Problem-solving skills help them develop critical thinking and good social skills.
Parents can support them by helping them reflect on the past and see how they handled issues. Help them learn to trust themselves and their inner abilities to solve issues. Train them to take time before deciding on issues and asking for help whenever possible.
Students have many issues to overcome and solve in college. But parents can help them overcome them by providing the right support. Play the role of a guide and role model as a parent without overstepping your mandate. Train your child virtues like self-reliance, self-confidence, and ability to decide conclusively. This way, you will help them succeed in college, career life, and beyond.
Author’s Bio
Connie Elser has years of experience in academic writing and during these years, she has stood out with her perseverance and the zeal to perform well in every task. Whether science or math, she has a strong hold on complex subjects which gives her the capability to deliver what her clients want. Her recent paper on AI in college education has received rave reviews.