As a college professor for over ten years and a mother for more than fifteen, I have seen my share of successful and unsuccessful students. I am aware of strategies that work to help students succeed. Here I will discuss the top 10 tips for parents on how they can assist their college-bound teens to be successful academically and in life.
Tip 1: Help Your Child Get Organized
Getting and staying organized is a huge component of being successful. Studies have shown that an organized workspace helps students stay focused. Parents can help by getting their kids to stay organized at home. Parents can assist in helping their kid organize their bedroom, desk or workspace, and even help organize their planner. If your child has a hard time keeping their room or workspace organized, it may be helpful to invest in a label maker and label everything that goes in drawers, cabinets, and other places. This not only helps them stay organized but also helps them find things easily.
Tip 2: Teach Your Kid How to Study Properly
There are many ways for a child to study, and while one way may work for one kid, it may not work for another. Help your child by teaching them different ways to study. Many college students believe they can cram in a study session right before an exam and do well, but that is simply not the case. Studying should be done over a few days and a little at a time. There are many different methods that students can try such as making flashcards, creating their own questions, taking practice tests and analyzing questions they got wrong, teaching someone else the material, or writing color-coded notes.
Tip 3: Talk to Your Child About Prioritizing
When young adults go off to college for the first time, especially if they are away from their parents, they may lose sight of what is important. Many times, a child must learn on their own what their priorities area, but parents can model to their kids what they value in hopes that the children can relate. It is important for a college student to find a balance between their schoolwork, family, friends, and outside work.
Tip 4: Help Your College-Bound Kid Make a Schedule
Sticking to a schedule can really be helpful to college students. If possible, have your child select morning classes so they are encouraged to wake up and start the day. Help your college student by coming up a plan for the rest of the day. When will they complete schoolwork and study? When will they make time for themselves? What time will they try to be in bed by? Having an idea of a schedule will help students stay focused and on track to being successful.
Tip 5: Encourage Your Child to Ask for Help
If there is one thing that all teachers want, it is for their students to succeed. If a teacher sees that a student has put their all into a class and is still struggling, chances are that teacher will be very willingly to work with that child outside of class. Make sure that your child is not afraid to ask for help. In addition, encourage your child to ask questions. Chances are other students have those same questions. One way that parents can help their college-bound kid to be comfortable with questions is by having them think about one question they have had in school that day and try to come up with the answer together.
Tip 6: Teach Your Child How to Stay Healthy
College students are constantly testing their limits. For the first time, many of them are free to choose when they want to wake up, what they want to eat, and how they spend their day. Before a child goes off to college, parents can try to teach the importance of staying healthy. The best way to do this is to model it yourself. Choosing healthy meals, exercising, and sleeping well will keep the college student focused throughout the day.
Tip 7: Talk to Your Children about the Different Learning Styles and Determine Theirs
There are four main learning styles: visual, reading and writing, auditory, and kinesthetic. Those that are visual learners do better at putting concepts in graphs, maps, and drawings. Auditory learners are better at listening to information and may do well with recording lectures and listening over them a few times. Reading and writing learners succeed with written lessons, presentations, and text, and note-taking works well for them. And last, kinesthetic learners are hands-on and do best at labs or activities that use all the senses. When a child determines their learning style, they will be more aware of what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to studying and retaining the information they receive in class.
Tip 8: Encourage Your Child to Attend All Classes
While many classes in the 21st century have an online-based component, it is still important for all students to attend live classes. Not only do many professors give a participation grade during live class time, but many times the live class will have information that is not found in textbooks. The most successful students in any class are those that actively participate in the class discussions and activities.
Tip 9: Talk to Your Teen about Their Goals
The best students value their education and are goal oriented. Parents should talk to their kids often about their short- and long-term goals. These students are usually the ones that are consistent and persistent in achieving what they wish in life and are the most successful.
Tip 10: Encourage Your Child to Live in the Moment
College can be scary, overwhelming, and stressful, but it is also fun, exciting, and a learning experience in so many ways. Make sure that you encourage your child to live in the moment, learn from their mistakes, and enjoy this time in their life. As a parent it can be hard to take a back seat, but during your child’s college career it is important to allow them to grow into their own being and allow them to learn from their own mistakes. This is one of the only way they will truly be successful in life.
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