Providing Social-Emotional Support to Our College Children

Many students struggle at various times during their college years with academic challenges and try to determine the next steps in their career paths. They may be burned out, overwhelmed, or confused about their academic progress. When they question their next steps, they may ask their parents for added support or guidance. Here at 10 tips for providing our young adults with the social-emotional support they so desperately need:

Listen attentively and without judgement.
Make sure our kids hear our support.
Refocus the goal of what they are trying to achieve in college and in their career paths.
Reteach our children not to fear challenges.
Reassure them that “failure is the sweet smell of success” per Roberta DePorter, co-founder of the SuperCamp program.
Urge them to lighten their college course load.
Support their participation in extra-curricular activities.
Encourage travel and new experiences with different types of people.
Provide them more space and allow them to grow.
Give them permission to slow down their career paths and timeline to graduate from college.

As we watch our children overcome life’s many challenges with thoughtful and creative resiliency, we can cheer them on to new levels of growth and achievement. The journey to becoming happy and successful adults is filled with many opportunities to grow and prosper in spite of life’s difficulties.

Much Success!

Yvette