8 Tips To Help Parents Prepare for Sending Kids to College

My oldest will be heading off to college sooner than I’d like and my nephew will be heading that direction in the next few days.  Needless to say my brother and sister-n-law have been having a hard time dealing with sending their baby off to school.  Of course they are proud of him and want to show their support, but there is also a lot of other mixed emotions – happy, sad, scared, worried, and proud.  It’s a lot of mixed feelings. 

8 Tips To Help Parents Prepare for Sending Kids to College

I asked my sister-n-law if she would share three tips to help other parents dealing with sending their babies off to college and she shared the following:

1) Keep an open mind – She told me she does her very best to keep an open mind for her son.  She is worried about a lot of things, but closing her mind will only close doors for her son and she wanted him to explore the world and became the person he’s trying to become.

2) Remember how proud you are of your child – Naturally, sending your child off to college can send plenty of different emotions.  It’s important to focus on the positives and remember how proud you are of your child for the choices they have made.

3) Don’t talk poorly about their selection of schools – My sister-n-law said she would have picked a different school for her child, but at the end of the day it was his choice and her job to support his decision. 

4) Ask questions and get involved – Be active in their choice of school, as them why they picked the school they did, and of course about their selection of classes and exciting things the school offers.  Asking questions helps them to get excited about college because they know you are interested, and they can come to you. 

5) Spend quality time with them before they leave – Naturally spending as much quality time together is great, but remember to step away from preparing your child from college and enjoy doing things you both enjoy too.

6) Talk to them – We spend our lives trying to raise our kids to become smart adults and it’s important to talk to them about things that might happen while they are away.  My sister-n-law said she got the best results from her son by asking him about things he thought might come up while he is away and how he would handle the situations.

7) Remember the little things – I think most parents would agree that focusing on the little things is one of the most important things we can do as parents, and the sooner we start the better.  Those little things are huge once our children begin to grow up.

8) Make sure they have everything they need – My sister-n-law said it was hard to help her son get ready for college, but she wanted to know he was prepared and had everything he needed to make his stay as comfortable as possible as soon as he got there so he could focus school.  I remember my mom helped me prepare for college, and I don’t know what I would have done without her help.  I wouldn’t have been prepared, I would have forgotten about a lot of the necessities – disposable razors, shampoo, deodorant, lol.  You know the things we are used to having and are easy to forget, moms are awesome at helping us remember, lol.

I asked my sister-n-law if there was anything I could get that would help Dennis as he heads off to college, and she asked me if I was winning to get him a gift basket with essentials.  

Of course I agreed, and my sister and I went to Walmart last night to get things together for a gift basket and gift for my nephew and we decided to make one for my oldest daughter who has a birthday coming up as well.  She’s turning 16 and will be heading off to college shortly as well, plus I know she would LOVE a gift basket filled with a few essentials and other great items she’ll love.  

I always have so much fun going to Walmart with my sister.  We typically go in the early morning hours because we get the store to yourself so we can get some serious and some not so serious shopping in lol.