In addition to preparing her own two sons for college, Rose-Marie Hippler has taken on the task of advising hundreds of young people and their parents as the students prepare to head off to college.
“Having been through this personally as well as professionally I bring experience and expertise to parents and their young adults as they take this leap into the next phase of life,” says Hippler, who has a master’s of social work and is an independent educational consultant along with her two business partners at Winter Park College Consultants.
“There are usually a lot of emotions stirring around as the anticipation of going off to college draws closer,” she says. “I remember when we were on the countdown, there were days when I thought the first day of college couldn’t get here fast enough. I decided that was God’s way of preparing you to say goodbye.”
Hippler believes one way parents and their teens can keep nerves and anxiety from rearing their ugly heads is to create a plan for all that needs to be accomplished before heading off to college. One way to keep emotions in check is to put together a plan of action.
Here are some things you might not have thought about that Hippler says need to be on your checklist:
* Make sure your teen has had a physical and all the shots they will need. If your teen is on a regular medication, you will want to transfer their prescription to a local pharmacy. And by law, once your child turns 18, unless you have signed the HIPAA form, healthcare professionals are prohibited from giving you information about your child if they are injured playing sports or hospitalized for some reason.
* Make a copy of everything in their wallet in the event they lose their wallet, which will probably happen at least once.
* Go through your calendar and mark all the upcoming events such as parent’s weekend, sports events you plan to attend, Christmas break, spring break and even when mid-terms and finals are scheduled. It isn’t too soon to make hotel reservations for events such as parent’s weekend and airline reservations for your student’s Thanksgiving and winter breaks.
* If your teen has not already opened a checking account, now is the time. Instead of you writing all the checks that need to be written, let them do it. It gives them a good indication of the investment you are making in their education, and it lets them get the hang of balancing a checkbook and keeping up with their own money.
* Alcohol, drugs, sex, campus safety and mental health issues are factors on every college campus. In spite of your teen probably thinking they have a really good handle on things, it is a good idea to have some serious conversations about how to conduct yourself on campus. There have been far too many examples recently of teens whose lives will be forever changed due to choices made while they were away at college.
* If they don’t know how to do their laundry, teach them then let them do their thing. Hippler says the first time she went to visit one of her sons, she noticed he had a stack of sheets in his laundry basket. He explained that he puts all three sets of sheets on his bed at one time. When it is time to change the sheets, he pulls off the top fitted sheet and the top flat sheet and he is ready to go. He waits until they are all dirty to wash them. Not the way she would have done it, but it works.
* Tell them you believe in them and they have been preparing for this their entire life. From the time they went off to kindergarten and on to middle school then to high school, all those firsts have been preparing them for this next step in their journey.
If you find yourself struggling with letting go, get with friends who have been there and done that to help you walk through this time of transition. And keep reminding yourself, this is what they are supposed to do.
For more helpful tips on sending your teen off to college visit knowsymoms.com.
Julie Baumgardner is president and CEO of First Things First. Contact her at julieb@firstthings.org.