Preparing your student to fly the nest

It’s never easy to see your kids leave home, regardless of their reasons for leaving. For the last couple of decades, they’ve been a huge part of your life, and you have a great deal of love and emotion for them. I can only imagine what it'll be like when Ethan wants to fly the nest! Of course, though, this isn’t the only challenge to be faced during this time. Along with this, they’re going to be stepping into a new world, and you have to be there to help them out.

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There are loads of skills which come in handy to someone studying on their own for the first time. As their parent, you have the chance to pass this on to your child, and it doesn’t have to be too hard. Here are a couple of examples of the most important skills to consider:

• As they’re going to be living on their own, one of the most important things you kid will need to learn is some basic life skills. There are loads of must-try cooking hacks out there, making it a lot easier to teach them this invaluable craft. Along with this, teaching them how to manage their money, social life, and the other important aspects of their being, will give them a much better chance of success in their studies.

• Unlike their time in school, university won’t coddle your child and make them work. Instead, if they want to achieve the right standard of education, they will have to work hard for it. This can start when they’re very young with some simple help from mum and dad. If you do their homework with them when they are young, while inspiring them to revise for exams, you’ll do them a great service.

Along with some skills, your kids are also very likely to need some support during their studies. This will be different to the help you’ve given before. Instead of telling them what to do, you have to be there to offer advice, only stepping in when big mistakes are going to be made.

• Alongside their study, people at university are also dealing with a huge amount of change in their life. New commitments and responsibilities can become very overwhelming, and emotions will run wild. As a supportive parent, it’s your job to help them through this.

• Of course, though, not all of the calls you’ll be getting will be for emotional support. Instead, you could also find yourself being asked for financial help while your child is studying, as they usually don’t have much coming in. You should not only provide this support but also work with them to find ways to improve their money management. In a lot of cases, they will already have the skills they need when you first get started, and they’ll just need a little reminder.

Hopefully, this post will give you a good idea of what can be done when you’re looking for ways to help your child as they go to university (and luckily, it's a long way off for me!). This can be a hard time in their life. But, with the right skills and support, you can make it a lot easier for them.