Guide for Parents

Guide for Parents

Launching a child in college is often a frightening situation, for parents as well as the student. Faced with the sudden change in family dynamics, and a sense of “how will my child ever survive without me?” or “how will I ever survive without my child?”, parents worry about their child’s health, well-being, academic work, friendship, and a variety of other concerns.

We have good news for you… This is all very normal! It may be helpful to know that other parents deal with these same issues.

This Parents’ Guide has been created just for you. We hope it will answer some of your questions and help you to feel more confident about your child being away.

How can I best help my child? I’m a LONG way from them.

Common Questions

Parents: Take care of yourself, too!

Help your son or daughter by keeping your own perspective clear. You should maintain your own support systems, allow yourself to feel the changing emotions that are likely to occur when a child leaves home to attend college, but continue or develop new interests and hobbies to maintain your own sense of well being. Your child needs to see you continue to live your life as fully as possible.

Launching your child successfully will require a lot of work, preparation, and finally a letting go. With this comes a need to trust that you have given your child the tools he or she will need to face life’s challenges.

We hope that the topics we have covered here will help to ease some of your concerns. Remember, we are here to make your child’s stay at Houghton as successful as possible.