Being a successful parent college coach requires time, patience, and a willingness to sometimes be the bad guy. Helping your student with college prep is so much more than choosing and applying to a college. To truly prepare your teen for college requires a commitment to firmness when it’s often easier to be lenient. Make sure your college-bound teen learns these concepts before college and heads off to face the world as an adult. They will be happier, you will be happier, and the people they come in contact with will recognize the positive affects of your parenting.
1-Actions have consequences
Teach your college-bound teen that actions have consequences: both good and bad. Allowing them to suffer the negative consequences of not following through will help them understand the importance of completion. This also shows them that completing tasks will produce positive consequences.
When your college-bound teen respects their own body, they will take care of it and themselves. This respect will affect how they respond to others sexually and to themselves physically. When they respect themselves, they are less likely to seek that acceptance and approval from others.
Children can’t learn without being given responsibility. Teens learn self-reliance when we give them the opportunity to make choices. Even though they might make the wrong choices, they learn from their mistakes. They also learn how to make the right choices. Give them responsibility and allow them to struggle.
When we give our kids everything they don’t appreciate what they do have. Teaching them to work for what they want goes a long way to helping them become productive adults. Sometimes we have to say no, knowing that giving in will produce a spoiled child–an attitude of ingratitude.
Children learn behavior from their parents. Acting out, anger and yelling are learned behaviors. When they see us lose control, they mirror our behavior. This behavior will manifest itself when they are away at college and cause them a tremendous amount of grief.
Check out my guide for parents: Parents Crash Course