By Vicki Nelson and Lynn Abrahams
You don’t stop parenting the day you drop your student off to college on Move-in Day. Your role simply changes. (Actually, it’s not simple at all, but it changes.) You’re a parent for life. Join Ly
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The podcast currently has 120 episodes available.
Just about anyone who has a student in school knows there are school counselors, but many of us don’t have any idea what they do. We know they provide guidance and assistance with college and career planning, but that’s just one part of the career that also includes social and emotional counseling and addressing academic needs – and for a national average of 250-400 students per counselor! With that much to do, for that many students, counselors need all of the help they can get. Parents who understand the work of the school counselor may be better able to partner with their student’s counselor to support their student. Lynn and Vicki spoke with Patrick O’Connor, author of College is Yours and past president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling to learn more about what counselors do and how students and parents can make the most of this important relationship.
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Most of us probably know that getting enough sleep makes us feel better, but there’s so much more to it than that – especially for our teens. In this episode, Vicki and Elizabeth talk with Lisa Lewis, author of the book The Sleep Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive about why our students aren’t getting enough sleep, the dramatic effect that can have on them, and how to help them get more sleep. If you sometimes feel as though your student is sleepwalking much of the time, you’ll discover you’re not alone – and you really help your teen make some changes.
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Zachary DesJardins and John Martinez are Academic Advisors at the State University of New York at Albany, and they work with students every day. In this conversation we learned how important it is for all of us to recognize that we are in a constant state of change and how crucial it is to be present in the moment. Zachary and John, both First Generation students themselves, shared some of the challenges these students face, but more importantly they stressed how essential it is to help these students recognize the strengths they bring and to help them celebrate their accomplishments. After you listen to this conversation you’ll be as enthusiastic as these two advisors are about supporting these students, you’ll understand how one person can make a profound difference, and how parents can be a fundamental part of the success equation.
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If you want to know how to best support your college student through potential mental health or anxiety issues, who better to ask than a psychiatrist? That’s exactly what Vicki and Elizabeth did in this episode. We were joined by Dr. Bianca Busch, founder of The College Psychiatrist, a medical practice that works with college students and their families. Dr. Busch emphasized that each individual is on a unique journey at a potentially stressful time in their life. We learned so much from Dr. Busch about helping students overcome challenges, navigating school and career stressors, relationship issues and identity exploration. Some students may never need counseling or mental health services, others come to college knowing they want to connect with someone for support, and others may be taken by surprise when they find they now need support. Parents will find this episode helpful no matter what lies ahead. This conversation will help you be prepared to give appropriate parental support and also guide your student who may want to seek professional help.
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This subject is so important we decided to share it again. In this final part of our summer college preparation series, Lynn and Vicki discuss how to support your student on Move-In Day and throughout their first six weeks on campus. Parents and students who are prepared for the emotional peaks and valleys of transitioning into the world of college, are better able to feel in control of their experiences. In this episode we offer suggestions for how to support your student on this exciting new journey.
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Preparing for and transitioning into the first year of college involves so many, many details, and it’s easy to get caught up in just getting through what needs to be done. Then the college experience can be taken over by the day-to-day details of classes, assignments, GPA, activities, friends, schedules, career planning and just surviving. While we all know it’s good advice to live in the moment, sometimes it can also help to take a breath, zoom out a bit, and look at the bigger picture. In this episode, Lynn and Vicki suggest why it’s important for your student (and you) to take some time to take a look backward, to look more widely at those experiences available now, and to look forward to the future. Changes of perspective can be illuminating for all of us (And yes, that includes parents!).
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Vicki and Elizabeth had a wide-ranging conversation with Harlan Cohen, college transition expert and author of The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College. Harlan shared why the transition to college can be so difficult and why finding your People, your Places, and having Patience can make a difference. Harlan encourages parents – and students – to understand that the first year of college, or at least the first semester, may be a terrible mess. Although that may not sound very positive, you’ll want to hear Harlan explain how that knowledge can be freeing and help students find their direction.
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Talking about tutoring is a new topic for our podcast, but we are finding that college parenting begins earlier and earlier, and parents are making many early decisions with future college potential in mind. In this episode, Vicki was pleased to be able to have a conversation with Celine Bewsher, Owner/Manager of Club Z! Tutoring in Cambridge, MA. Celine shared her insights about how tutoring can help students succeed, not just by helping with a specific subject at a specific time, but by helping students master the skills that they’ll need in the future. Celine helped us understand why starting to work with a tutor early can pay off as students approach test prep and the greater demands of college classes. Whether or not your student could benefit from tutoring, this conversation with help you understand better how your student learns and how you can support them all the way through school.
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This episode is sort-of an encore episode. Each year we do an episode where we share some of our favorite – and helpful – books for college parents. This year, we realized that many of the books that we’ve talked about over the past four years are still ones we recommend. So we’ve pulled together seven of our suggestions from past years and put them together in this episode. These books are truly some of our top recommendations. Happy listening – and then happy reading!
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Once your student makes their final college decision and puts down that important deposit, they enter a new leg of the college journey. Sure, you know there will be lots of preparation work ahead – summer decisions, shopping, good-byes, packing – but your student may be thinking they’ll really become a college student at Move-in Day in the fall. Your student may still be a high school student, but the college knows there’s work to be done now. In this episode, Sarah and Vicki talk about your student’s strange mental place with one foot in each world and why it’s important for your student to begin to connect with the college soon after depositing. The work of being a college student starts now, in early summer, and Sarah and Vicki explain why and share what students, and their parents, should expect and why it matters.
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