By Jane Sandwood, Freelance Writer

An estimated 20.4 million students started their first year in American colleges and universities for the 2017-2018 school year. Next year, it is likely that there will be more teenagers entering college, and if your child is one of them, then you may have already begun the preparations for the big day.

Preparing your child to attend college takes a lot more than choosing a good dorm. Keep in mind that once your teen leaves the nest, he will have to handle certain aspects of adult life and he needs to be adequately prepared to take on certain responsibilities in college. Good preparation can make all the difference in your teen’s college years. Here’s a guide to helping your child tackle the challenges of college life.

Academic life

College may look like one big party in teen movies, but it’s not—your child must be able to handle the rigors of their new academic life to be successful. If you’re still doing applications, access ACT English and Math practice tests to help your teen become more comfortable with the test format. You should also help them to learn time management skills as dealing with a college schedule can be overwhelming for freshmen. Give examples of classwork and typical college activities and discuss the best ways to take on these new responsibilities.

Life skills

It’s a fact that some of the most important life skills aren’t taught in school. Months before your child leaves for college, teach how to balance a checkbook, cook basic meals, do laundry, make simple clothing repairs, create a budget, and pay bills on time. Learning all of these life skills can empower your child and allow him or her to be more independent in college. When teaching these skills, patiently guide your child on what to do and encourage experimentation, especially when it comes to making meals.

Emotional preparation

Even academically successful children often fail in college due to inadequate emotional preparation for this new stage in life. To help your child become more resilient to cope with anxiety and the stress of college life, allow them to be more independent with regards to homework and chores. Helicopter parenting may backfire as your child may stay dependent on you even though they’re living in a dorm several hundred miles away from home. Teach healthy ways to cope with stress such as exercising, meditating, listening to soothing music, or engaging in a hobby. Doing so gives your child confidence to face the challenges of college.

Your child needs to be adequately prepared in order to succeed in college. Follow these tips to make sure that your child can cope well. Doing so ensures a happy and successful college life for your teen.

Parent involvement in schools

Teachers if increasing parent involvement in your school is an area of interest for you, we hope you will consider our online course titled “Engaging Parents In Support of Student Learning, Grades K-12“.

Our main focus in this course is to help in providing strategies for you and your school to become more focused on engaging parents not just involving them in pre-determined tasks.

This course will provide participants with a variety of strategies and resources designed to increase parent engagement at the school and classroom level. The course provides an opportunity for participants to analyze how the school environment welcomes parents, including considering the current effectiveness of activities designed to bring parents into the school environment, potential barriers to parent involvement, and ways to strengthen the current opportunities and minimize or eliminate the barriers that keep parents from being involved in the educational process.