Information for the parents of college students

This is the second of two posts about working with your sophomore student.  Be sure to see our previous post with the first three conversations with your college sophomore.

As parents, we worry about our high school senior’s transition to college.  We know that there is work to be done during the summer before that freshman year.  We’ve suggested some important conversations – and then even more conversations – for you to have with your student during that summer before college.

As your student moves past the first, transitional year, it may be important to talk with him about what to expect during that potential sophomore slump.  Knowing that the second year of college may be significantly different and preparing for some changes will arm your student and possibly prevent some difficult times.  This is a good time to have some specific conversations with your student now that he has some perspective on college life and studies.  We’d like to suggest seven possible topics.  Of course, not all topics are appropriate for everyone.  Our last post considered three topics you and your student might discuss.  Here are four more.

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As parents, we worry about our high school senior’s transition to college.  We know that this is a big step and we hope that our student is prepared.  We know that there is work to be done during the summer before that freshman year.  We’ve written earlier posts about some important conversations – and then even more conversations – for you to have with your student during that summer before college.

But even after your student has made those important first transitions to college, there are more changes ahead.  Each year of college brings its own phase of development, and the phenomenon of the “sophomore slump” is very real for many students.  Parents may be less comfortable with knowing what conversations they should be having with their student who may be moving on to the second year of college, but the work isn’t done.

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There is a wealth of literature available to help parents cope with the transition to college and the changes that occur throughout the college years and beyond.  We’ve offered some lists of recommended reading, and there is something for everyone. Check out our Recommended Reading Lists at the end of this post.

From time to time, we like to review some of the books available for parents of college students.

In this review, we’ll take a look at Don’t Bite Your Tongue: How to Foster Rewarding Relationships with your Adult Children by Dr. Ruth Nemzoff.

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The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

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It is possible that your college student will be staying on campus for the summer – either for summer classes, a summer job, research or an internship.  But for most college students, the end of the spring term means returning home for the summer, or at least heading off campus. Your student is anxious and can’t wait to get off campus, but before he fills up that car and heads home, there are some things that he should do.  A little time spent now can make the return next fall go much more smoothly. 

Talk to your student about how he is wrapping up the semester.  It may not be easy for him to think past those final exams and papers, but suggest that he plan ahead to summer and to next fall and anticipate some of the things that will help.

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We’ve written an earlier post with twenty-five suggestions for gifts for your college grad.  We think that list is quite comprehensive and even a bit creative.  If you’re looking for ideas for graduation, don’t miss looking at that list.  However, there are always more ideas that float to the surface.  Here are a few more ideas to get you started.

As with our previous list of gift suggestions, as well as our annual holiday suggestions, we know how personal gifts should be.  These gift suggestions are intended to be starting points for your own thinking.  Some will be out of range for you financially and some will seem silly to you.  Take them for what they are and add the spin of how well you know the personality, needs, and interests of your graduate.

Have fun imagining and growing your own ideas.

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The number of ways in which we can communicate with our college students continues to increase almost daily.  You may use one method almost exclusively, or you may use several methods to keep in touch.  These days, most of our connections seem to be electronic.  We may communicate via cell phone, text messages, e-mail, Facebook, Skype, Google hangouts, Google chats, Facetime or any number of other interesting methods.  It’s important to stay in touch (although it’s easy to overdo it).

In the rush of the newest electronic forms of communication, one often overlooked and forgotten form of connection is good, old fashioned, snail mail.  Even with the advent of technology as a means of connection, most college students are still assigned a physical mailbox on campus.  The ritual of checking the mailbox is still a common one for most students.  No matter what means of communication you use most often, consider using this mailbox to reach out to your student. 

You don’t need to sit down and write a long, newsy letter to your student (although most students wouldn’t object to receiving one).  There are some simple ways to brighten your student’s day through mailbox contents.  Of course, there is the obvious practice of sending a full-blown care package to your student.  Students love receiving care packages.  You can contract a service to send a package, or you can put together a fun care package yourself.

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College Parent Central has just turned four!  We began this website on April 1, 2009 – somehow April Fool’s Day seemed an appropriate launch for something that thrust us into the unknown.  Four years (and 410 posts) later, we continue to believe even more firmly than ever that college parents are an important part of student success, and we’re proud to contribute to the dialogue.

After four years of writing about college parenting, talking to college parents, working with college students, and working and speaking with professional colleagues, we have learned even more than we have shared.  We are grateful to those people who have shared their stories and wisdom and helped us as we continue to reach out to parents who may find our information helpful,

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The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

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This is the second of two posts about the senioritis sometimes experienced by college seniors.  In our first post we looked at some of the roots or causes of your student’s feelings.  In this post, we’ll consider what this senioritis may look like and how you, as a parent, might help your student cope.

In many ways, although the causes may differ, college senioritis may look very similar to high school senioritis.  Your usually motivated student suddenly loses interest in his coursework, missing classes and deadlines for assignments.  He doesn’t seem to care about his work and only puts forth a partial effort.  His grades are in jeopardy of slipping and he doesn’t seem to care.

Although it is possible that this may be due to “school fatigue” after sixteen or more years of school, we discussed in our last post several other possible causes.  These causes may lead to other symptoms that indicate that your student is a victim of senioritis.

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